Texas remains the
nation’s leader in the production of power by wind energy and more than
doubled the amount of new wind-powered energy production installed by any
other state in the second quarter of this year, the American Wind Energy
Association has announced.
Texas businesses built
new facilities to generate 454 megawatts of power, bringing the state’s
total generating capacity to 8,341 MW – more than double that of the next-closest
state. Iowa added new facilities capable of generating 160 MW to bring
its total to 3,043 MW.
California is third
among the nation’s wind-energy producers with facilities capable of producing
2,787 MW.
AWEA said it is seeing
a reduced number of orders and lower level of activity in manufacturing
of wind turbines and their components, a development it termed troubling
in view of the fact that the U.S. industry was previously on track for
much larger growth and the global wind power industry is continuing to
expand.
“The numbers are in,
and while they show the industry has been swimming upstream, adding some
4,000 MW over the past six months, the fact is that we could be delivering
so much more,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode.
“Our challenge now
is to seize the historic opportunity before us to unleash this entrepreneurial
force and build up an entire new industry here in the U.S. that will create
jobs, avoid carbon, and strengthen our energy security. To achieve that,
Congress and the Administration must pass a national Renewable Electricity
Standard (RES) with strong early targets.”
During the second
quarter, the U.S. wind energy industry completed a total of 1,210 MW in
10 states, enough to power the equivalent of about 350,000 homes. These
new installations nudge total U.S. wind power generating capacity to 29,440
MW, according to the report. The U.S. wind power generating fleet now offsets
an average of 54 million tons of carbon annually, reducing carbon emissions
from the electricity sector by 2% or the equivalent of taking 9 million
cars off the road.
The state posting the
fastest growth in the second quarter was Missouri, where wind power installations
expanded by 90%. Pennsylvania and South Dakota ranked second and third
in terms of growth rate in the second quarter, expanding by 28% and 21%
respectively.
“Manufacturing investment
is the canary in the mine, and shows that the future of wind power in this
country is very bright but still far from certain,” said Bode. “The reality
is that if the nation doesn’t have a firm, long-term renewable energy policy
in place, large global companies and small businesses alike will hold back
on their manufacturing investment decisions or invest overseas, in countries
like China that are soaring ahead.”
The full Q2 market
report is available on the AWEA Web site at http://www.awea.org/publications/reports/2Q09.pdf. |