Energy Department shows continued growth in wind industry

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released three wind market reports that show continued growth in the U.S. wind energy industry.

“The wind industry continues to install significant amounts of new capacity, and supplied about six percent
of total U.S. electricity in 2016,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Daniel Simmons said. “As our reports explain, a combination of federal subsidies, state mandates, and technological advancements continue to help drive new wind capacity additions.”

The 2016 Wind Technologies Market Report by the Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that the American wind industry installed more than 8200 megawatts (MW) of new wind capacity in 2016, which accounted for 27 percent of all energy capacity additions during the year.

Wind supplied approximately six percent of U.S. electricity in 2016, and more than 10 percent in 14 states, the reports found.

Texas had the most installed wind capacity, 20 MW, while wind made up the highest share of energy,
30 percent, in Iowa and South Dakota. In total, 40 states operated wind projects.

The wind industry currently supports 101,738 U.S. jobs, a 32 percent increase over 2015.

The 2016 Offshore Wind Technologies Market Report highlighted the commissioning of the Block Island Wind Farm, the first commercial offshore wind project in the United States. The project has a capacity of 30 MW. The development pipeline for U.S. offshore wind project includes over 20 projects with a total capacity of approximately 24,135 MW.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s 2016 Distributed Wind Market Report found that distributed application turbines totaled 77,000 with a capacity of 992 MW.