[dredmorbius]

The article mentions Altamont Pass, which beginning in the early 1980s became one of the first, and until relatively recently one of the largest, wind farms in the world. It became a very familiar landmark to residents of the Bay Area, and still exists today, with older (and generally smaller) turbines being upgraded to modern, larger, and environmentally safer (largely to birds) models.

Until the late 2000s / early 2010s, it was rare to encounter wind turbines other than at Altamont and the Tehachapi Pass site (in Southern California, also begun in the early 1980s). Towers are now a fairly common site across the country, though more often in rural areas. Texas now dominates the country, and with two other states (Oklahoma and Iowa) exceeds California's installed capacity.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_wind_farm>

<https://howmuch.net/articles/wind-power-in-the-united-states...>

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_State...>