In the first three quarters of 2020, renewable energy — almost entirely solar and wind energy — accounted for 70% of new US power capacity, based on official utility-scale power plant data from FERC and small-scale solar power estimates from CleanTechnica.
Human civilizations have harnessed wind power for thousands of years. Early forms of windmills used wind to crush grain or pump water. Now, modern wind turbines use the wind to create electricity. Learn how a wind turbine works.
Offshore Wind Resources Are Abundant: Offshore wind has the potential to deliver large amounts of clean, renewable energy to fulfill the electrical needs of cities along U.S. coastlines. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the technical resource potential for U.S. offshore wind is more than 2,000 gigawatts of capacity, or 7,200 terawatt-hours per year of generation.
Earlier this year, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the regional transmission organization that manages the electric grid for much of the central United States, set records for the highest share of electricity demand supplied by wind power in both a single-hour period (72%) and a full day (62%).
The United States currently boasts 24 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy capacity under construction, according to the latest preliminary figures from Windpower Intelligence, a 26% increase over the same period a year earlier.
NextEra Energy told investors last month it expects 50% of all US electricity will come from renewable energy resources by 2030. That is 20 years sooner than the latest prediction for the Energy Information Administration.
The energy generated in a year from a standard US wind turbine could lift the Empire State Building half a mile into the air or fly a loaded Boeing 747 around the world twice.
UPDATE November 3: This article (including the top 3 charts and top table) has been updated to correct numbers used for fossil fuel and nuclear sources. I previously used “Table 1.1. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors), 2004-August 2014 (Thousand Megawatthours)” of the EIA’s Electric Power Monthly report … [continued]
An offshore wind turbine demonstration project at Coos Bay off the Oregon coast has finally put the US on the global floating wind turbine map.The US has been lagging badly while other countries spring ahead with offshore wind farms, but it when it comes to the niche sector of floating wind turbines we’re right up there with the front-runners.
American wind power topped 4% of the US power grid for the first time last year and has delivered 30% of all new generating capacity for the last five years. In Iowa and South Dakota, wind power now exceeds 25% of total electricity production. In nine states, it provided more … [continued]
