Wind Power in The United States - National Trends

National Trends

Over the last few years, wind power in the U.S. has been increasing rapidly. In 2010, however, new construction was about half of the previous year due to various factors, including the financial crisis, and recession. The graph at left shows the growth in installed wind generation capacity in the United States based on data from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In 2008, installed capacity in the U.S. increased by 50% over the prior year. The world average growth rate that year was 28.8%.

New wind farms can produce electricity in the 5-8 cents per kWh range, making wind power competitive with the cost of fossil fuel electricity generation in many markets. Fifteen states have each installed over 1,000 MW of wind capacity, and a total of 39 states and Puerto Rico now have installed at least some utility-scale wind power. Much of the new wind power capacity is being built in the Great Plains and Midwest regions of the United States, which have a favorable combination of characteristics: ample wind resources, an extensive rail and highway network for shipping outsized turbine components, flat topography which both improves the wind and makes turbine components easier to ship, and broad acceptance from local farmers and ranchers. New development in some locations, however, is being limited by lack of additional capacity to transmit power to locations where it can be used.