Wind energy surpasses hydro as largest renewable energy resource, AWEA report finds
A new market report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) found that wind power’s second strongest quarter ever helped it to surpass hydropower as the largest renewable energy resource and the fourth largest overall in the United States.
Business leaders from the wind industry and General Motors (GM) met Thursday to announce the findings of AWEA’s Fourth Quarter 2016 U.S. Wind Industry Market Report at GM’s assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, which will soon be powered solely by wind energy.
During the last quarter of 2016, 6,478 megawatts (MW) of wind energy was installed in the United States, bringing the total installed capacity to 82,183 MW. That wind energy is generated by more than 52,000 wind turbines.
The report also found that there is more than 18,300 MW of wind capacity currently under construction or in advanced development. New announcements for wind projects total 6,345 MW.
During the fourth quarter of 2016, 19 states commissioned 47 wind projects. The U.S. also commissioned its first off-shore wind farm during the quarter, the 30 MW Block Island project off the coast of Rhode Island.
In total, 41 states are producing wind energy. Most recently, North Carolina saw its first commercial-scale wind farm, the Amazon Wind Farm US East, brought online in one of the first major wind farms in the southeastern United States.
“Why are we growing so rapidly? The costs are declining,” AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan said at the event. “Over the last seven years, our costs have come down by two-thirds in the wind industry.”
Texas operates 20,321 MW of installed wind capacity, almost three times as much as any other state. Texas also led the country in 2016 installations with 2,611 MW and in new construction announcements, which totaled 5,401 MW.
The wind energy industry provides about 25,000 jobs in Texas, provides landowners with more than $60 million in quarterly land lease payments and $38 billion in project investment to date.
“With more wind energy production and more wind workers than any other state, if you want to know how wind works for America, just ask a Texan,” Kiernan said.
GM’s Arlington assembly plant, which is already 50 percent powered by wind, is expected to be completely wind powered by 2018. The plant, which produces 1,000 SUVs a day, will be GM’s first plant powered fully by wind.
GM spends approximately $1 billion on energy costs annually and has a goal of using 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.
“GM has saved $80 million due to using renewable energy since 1993,” Rob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy, said at the Arlington event. “We see a strong business case in using renewable energy,” he added.
GM recently signed an agreement to purchase 50 MW of wind power from Cactus Flats, a 150-megawatt wind farm being developed by RES in Concho County, Texas.
When the contract begins in 2018, renewable energy will represent 6 percent of GM’s energy use. The company will source more than 193,000 megawatt-hours of electricity from wind, enough to power the Austin IT Innovation Center, a GM financial office in Fort Worth and 13 parts warehouses.
