What’s Up with Wind Power: The Good and Not-So-Good

- The Department of Energy (DOE) just released the first “Annual Report on US Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2006”.

- Wind power currently accounts for only 1% of all electricity produced in the US.
- The DOE predicts an increase in wind power generated electricity to reach 7% by 2022. If this goal is to be reached, 36,000 wind turbines will need to be built.

- The top 10 states according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) producing the most kilowatt hours of electricity are:
1. Texas
2. California
3. Iowa
4. Minnesota
5. Washington
6. Oklahoma
7. New Mexico
8. Oregon
9. New York
10. Kansas

- The EPA estimates that a 25-MW wind facility could cover up to 1,500 acres, equal to 60 acres per megawatt.

- 1 MW of power produced by a wind turbine would produce enough electricity for approximately 175 to 300 homes annually (depending on the source of the information). As of March 2007, our national wind energy capacity is 11,699 MW. In comparison, the average size of one US power plant is 213 MW.

- According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if all US electric power plants were operating at full capacity in 1990, they would have produced 690,000 MW of electricity.

- According to the American Wind Energy Association, 1,700 MW of wind generated power will displace 3 million tons of CO2 emissions each year.

See the Source:
Annual Report on US Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2006
A Problem With Wind Power
Wind Energy Projects

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