Wind Power in Ohio - Installed Capacity and Wind Resources

Installed Capacity and Wind Resources

The following table compares the growth in wind power installed nameplate capacity in megawatts (MW) for Ohio, Texas, California, and the entire United States since 1999.

Year Ohio Texas California US
1999 0 180 1,646 2,500
2000 0 181 1,646 2,566
2001 0 1,096 1,714 4,261
2002 0 1,096 1,822 4,685
2003 3.6 1,293 2,043 6,374
2004 7.2 1,293 2,096 6,740
2005 7.2 1,995 2,150 9,149
2006 7.4 2,739 2,376 11,575
2007 7.4 4,296 2,439 16,596
2008 7.4 7,116 2,517 25,410
2009 7.4 9,403 2,798 34,863
2010 9.6 10,089 3,253 40,267
2011 112.0 10,377 3,927 46,918

One large untapped resource of wind in Ohio is Lake Erie. Its shallow depth and shelter from hurricanes provide advantages in terms of both ease of construction as well as safety of investment. Although land based wind farms frequently have lower siting costs, offshore wind farms usually have better wind, as open water lacks obstructions such as forests, buildings, and hills.

On February 11, 2010, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released the first comprehensive update of the wind energy potential by state since 1993, showing that Ohio had potential to install 55 GW of onshore wind power nameplate capacity, generating 152 TWh annually. For comparison, Ohio consumed 160.176 TWh of electricity in 2005; the entire U.S. wind power industry was producing at an annual rate of approximately 50 TWh at the end of 2008; and Three Gorges Dam (the world's largest electricity-generating station) produced an average of 80 TWh/yr in 2008 and 2009.

Read more about this topic:  Wind Power In Ohio

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