A system for deicing a wind turbine blade includes an electrically powered active plasma actuator (10) applied to a desired portion of a wind turbine blade (30). The activated plasma actuator (10) energizes the air (22,26) in the vicinity of the plasma actuator (10) to increase the surface temperature of the wind turbine blade (30) in the vicinity of the plasma actuator (10) sufficiently to reduce or eliminate the collection of ice on a desired portion of the wind turbine blade (30).