Eleven states generated at least 10% of their total electricity from wind in 2015, despite the fact that just five years ago, only three states achieved that same threshold.
Iowa (31.3%), South Dakota (25.5%) and Kansas (23.9), have held down the base since 2010 and have brought with them eight more states, expanding from the Midwest to the east and west sides of the country.
Successful wind industry is being implemented in rocky mountain region states like Colorado and Idaho and in central high plains region states like Oklahoma, North Dakota and Minnesota, while some are doing it near the coasts, in Maine, Vermont and Oregon.
Nationally, the wind energy share of total U.S. electricity generation has increased every year since 2001. Wind facilities produced 190,927 gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity in 2015, accounting for 4.7% of net U.S. electric power generation. The measurement represents a doubling of wind's generation share since 2010, when the share was only 2.3%.
In 2016, the EIA projects that two additional states are on track to join the aforementioned eleven states. Texas and New Mexico are both projected to surpass a 10% wind generation share in 2016, based on data through July. Wind generation in Texas, the highest wind electricity-producing state, made up 24% of the national total wind generation and 9.9% of Texas's total electricity generation in 2015.
To see more wind energy data from 2015 and 2016, please click here.
