On the back of three years of consistent growth, the US wind market is poised for a record-breaking surge with cumulative installed wind capacity to surpass 150GW by 2020, according to a recent market study from Emerging Energy Research (EER).
2008 is poised to set another record for annual installations in the US, with over 8GW of wind projects currently under construction scheduled for operation by year's end, according to EER. More than half of US states have enacted Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS') to date, creating demand for up to 295 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable energy supply by 2020. In addition, the US federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) remains crucial to the wind project revenue stream, with looming uncertainty regarding the incentive's current expiration at the end of 2008. Texas continues to serve as the hub of US wind project development activity, with over 45GW of wind projects under development in the state. However, future growth in top US wind regions such as the Southwest, Midwest, West and Pacific Northwest hinges on the completion of numerous proposed transmission projects, according to EER.
