Nine states now generate more than 10 percent of their electricity from wind.
After years of uninterrupted success, wind power experienced a bit of a pause around the start of this decade. Prices for hardware reversed a decline and bounced upwards slightly, with installations dropping accordingly. But a new report from the Department of Energy shows that this bounce is now over. The price paid for wind-generated electricity has now reached an all-time low, and construction is bouncing back. Still, regulatory uncertainty may now be creating a boom/bust cycle for wind.
The report starts by reviewing the size of the wind market in the US. In 2014, it represented a quarter of the new additions to the US' generating capacity, a bit down from the average of 2007-2014, when it represented a third. Just under five GigaWatts were installed by the US, placing it third, and well behind China's 23GW. China now has nearly doubled the US 66GW of cumulative capacity.
Because of the US' excellent wind resources, however, it led the world in generating electricity last year. As a percentage of a country's total electricity generated by wind, the US ranked 15th, at roughly five percent. There are sharp regional differences however, with nine states generating more than double that percentage of their electricity using wind, led by Iowa, which generated 29 percent of its energy from the air.
The report expects the number of new wind farm installations to drop off because a federal production tax credit expired in 2014.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @11:27AM
Sure. There are plenty of wind power settups you can buy for your home, and many states have net metering. Go for it.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Wednesday August 12 2015, @01:32PM
I am a crackpot