The U.S. has maintained its status as a leader in the wind energy sector, including the world’s second-largest installed capacity for turbines, increased grid-reliance on wind energy and all-time low prices, according to two reports by the Department of Energy.
Combined with a strong installed capacity, the 2013 Wind Technologies Market Report, compiled with the help of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, also finds nearly 4.5% of the nation's electricity is provided by wind power due to low prices that encourage utilities to choose wind for affordable, renewable energy.
Also released in conjunction with the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was the 2013 Distributed Wind Market Report, which finds that turbines in distributed applications account for a strong majority of turbines installed in the U.S. Cumulatively, distributed applications reached an installed capacity of 842 MW – enough to power 120,000 American homes. The capacity is spread out between roughly 72,000 turbines across all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including 14 states which have more than 10 MW of distributed wind capacity. Distributed wind energy applications are useful for a variety of purposes due to their scalable size that provides customizable value to facilities looking to reach net-zero energy status.
