Texas, Iowa Led States in Installed Wind Capacity in 2008

Wind power projects installed through the end of 2008 now generate 1.25% of the nation’s electricity, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) annual wind industry report shows. Texas again installed the most capacity, but Iowa surged into second place, beating California—the state where almost all wind power capacity in the U.S. was once installed.

Over 27,000 MW of new wind power generation capacity came online worldwide, bringing the total to more than 120,000 MW through the end of 2008, the report (PDF) said. About 8,500 MW of this new capacity was installed in the U.S, bringing its total to more than 25,300 MW and making it the country with the largest amount of wind power capacity installed.

New wind capacity installed in Texas put that state in a “league of its own” last year. “If Texas were a country, it would rank sixth in the world, behind Germany, the rest of the U.S., Spain, China, and India,” the report said. Adding 2,671 MW to bring its total to 7,118 MW, the state gained more new wind capacity than any country except China and the rest of the U.S.

Iowa surged into second place in the U.S., behind only Texas. California now ranks third for wind project capacity at 2,517 MW—or about 2.67% of the state’s power generation.

California’s Legislature is in the process of making official a renewable standard that would require private utilities to get 33% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. According to a quarterly report (PDF) from the California Public Utilities Commission, though California installed four times more renewable energy than in any prior year, investor-owned utilities saw only a few geothermal and only half as many wind energy bids in 2008 as in 2007. Geothermal and wind account for more than half the state’s clean energy today.

Meanwhile, Minnesota and Iowa both increased wind capacity in 2008 and made it more than 7% of their generation totals, the AWEA report said. Indiana ranked as the state with the fastest growth rate, expanding installations from zero to 131 MW, followed by Michigan (48%), Utah (21%), New Hampshire (17%), and Wisconsin (6%).

In company rankings, NextEra Energy Resources (formerly FPL Energy) continues to lead in wind farm ownership, while Xcel Energy again led investor-owned utilities in wind power. GE Energy turbines accounted for 43% of all new capacity installed in the U.S. in 2008. The rest of the top five include Vestas, whose turbines accounted for 13% of new installed capacity, Siemens and Suzlon at 9% each, and Gamesa at 7%. Several new companies—Acciona, REPower, Fuhrlander, DeWind, and AWE—entered the U.S. market in 2008.

Wind power’s recent growth has also accelerated investment in manufacturing, the report said. Wind turbine and turbine component manufacturers announced, added, or expanded more than 55 facilities in 2008 alone, spanning 24 states from Alabama to Wisconsin. 

Sources: AWEA, CPUC