US wind energy industry grew 8% in 2014

The total installed wind power capacity in the US grew 8% in 2014. That’s according to the 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report by the Energy Department. It now stands at […]

The total installed wind power capacity in the US grew 8% in 2014.

That’s according to the 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report by the Energy Department.

It now stands at nearly 66GW, which ranks second in the world and meets 4.9% of end-use electricity demand in an average year, the report claims.

It states the US was the global leader in total wind energy production in 2014 and wind energy prices were at an “all-time low”.

A new trend identified by the report shows utility-scale turbines with larger rotors designed for lower wind speeds were increasingly deployed across the country last year.

Image: Thinkstock
Image: Thinkstock

 

The findings also suggest the success of the US wind industry had “a ripple effect” on the American economy, supporting 73,000 jobs related to development, siting, manufacturing, transportation and other industries—an increase of 22,500 jobs from 2013 to 2014.

The US Energy Department also released the 2014 Distributed Wind Market Report which showed in total, “US turbines in distributed applications reached a cumulative installed capacity of more than 906MW”.

That’s enough to power more than 168,000 homes. This capacity comes from roughly 74,000 turbines installed across all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Compared with traditional, centralised power plants, distributed wind energy installations supply power directly to the local grid near homes, farms, businesses and communities.

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