You may not have enjoyed today's strong winds, but believe it or not some people actually live for days like today. That's because they work for energy companies. Lately more and more of them are tapping into one of our oldest natural resources for power.

"It's working...

Don't confuse windy politicians....

...we're generating right now baby," said Senator John Thune.

......with politicians who brag about wind.

"Very impressive!"

Senator Thune is fighting in Congress to pass an energy bill that favors wind turbine farms. While you may see tall pirouetting structures, Thune sees good things on the horizon.

"The thing that's really exciting about wind energy is the potential of what South Dakota has to offer to meet the electricity needs for people all across the country," said Thune.

When finished, this new Xcel Energy wind farm being built near Brookings will generate 150 megawatts of electricity.

"In any given year, we estimate that that will be enough electricity to supply 50,000 homes," said Kevin Lynch of PPM Energy.

In other words, enough power to supply a city almost the size of Rapid City.  But the winds of change are going to have to blow through Washington first, changing policies and attitudes.

"If we are serious about developing wind energy we have to get the equivalent of an interstate highway system to get wind from where it's generated to where it's needed," said Thune.

That's where large transmission lines like these will come in.

"Getting power generated here is one thing, but getting it out to the customers where the demand is is another," said Lynch.

And that demand has been here for a long time.

The Xcel wind farm near Brookings encompasses 15,000 acres of land, but the actual footprint of the turbines uses less than 2% allowing farmers to continue farming the land.