Over 40 per cent more wind power projects are under construction or advanced development in America than at this time last year, according to second-quarter results released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Across the country, 29 wind projects, representing a combined 3,841MW, announced that they either began construction or entered advanced development in April through June 2017, for a total of 25,819MW of wind projects currently underway. That is up more than 7,500MW from the 18,279MW underway as of one year ago.
Findings in the new U.S. Wind Industry Second Quarter 2017 Market Report show nearly 80 per cent of current wind turbine construction and advanced development activity is found in the Midwest, Texas and the Mountain West. Other highlights in the second quarter include six major commercial and industrial customers buying U.S. wind power for the first time, including Apple and General Mills, and two offshore wind projects that were awarded Maryland offshore renewable energy credits (ORECs), a key step in their development. In the second quarter, construction started on 2,495MW of projects, while 1,346MW entered advanced development. There are now 14,004MW of wind projects under construction and 11,815MW in advanced development. New wind power capacity added to the grid totalled 237MW, similar to the second quarter last year. Nationally, the USA now has 84,405MW of installed wind power capacity, with more than 52,000 commercial wind turbines currently operating in 41 states plus Guam and Puerto Rico.
