Wind energy technologies have made significant
advances in the last decade.
According to the American
Wind Energy Association, a wind trade
association, wind is currently
the fastest-growing electricity
source in the world, the
U.S. alone has more than
6,300 megawatts of wind
generating capacity. See
AWEA's list of U.S.
Wind Energy Projects and AWEA's Annual U.S. Wind Power Rankings. Primary forces
driving this increased
interest in wind power
include:
- Wind power is increasingly
cost-competitive with
coal, nuclear and even
gas-fired generation;
- Wind turbines can
be sited and installed
more quickly than conventional
generation to begin delivering
electricity;
- Technological advances
are enabling wind turbines
to generate electricity
at lower speeds, expanding
the range of economically
developable wind resources;
- State and federal
policies in the form
of financial incentives
and procurement mandates
are facilitating wind's
cost-competitiveness
and driving wind industry
growth;
- The increasing reliability
of wind forecasting models
is giving resource planners
and electric system operators
more confidence in wind
power to contribute to
short-term power demand;
- Transmission system
rules and penalties that
discriminate against
the intermittent nature
of wind and present obstacles
to future wind development
are being reevaluated
and, in many cases, eliminated.
To learn more about wind power technologies,
see the U.S.
Department of Energy Wind
Power Technologies website
and the Wind
Powering America Program website.
Also, be sure and review the other sections
of the PRP website for
more information on Wind
Power Technologies and
related subjects, such
as the State
Activities / Resources; the National
Activities / Resources; Key
Industry Contacts; Consumer
Education and the Members Only Section,
which you can gain access
by becoming an American
Public Power Association
(APPA) DEED member or National
Rural Electric Cooperative
Association (CRN) member.
Other Key Resources:
State
Wind Activities
State
Wind Resource Maps
Utility Wind
Interest Group
National
Wind Coordinating Committee
Publications
