The American wind power industry emerged from 2018 stronger than ever, now able to power 30 million American homes after 8% capacity growth last year. The newly released U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report,
Year Ending 2018 reveals that U.S. wind power supports a record 114,000 American jobs, over 500 domestic factories, and more than US$ 1 billion a year in revenue for states and communities that host wind farms.
Texas is home to roughly a quarter of all U.S. wind power capacity with nearly 25,000MW installed. And with nearly 7,000MW of additional wind projects under construction or in advanced development at the end of 2018, Texas is adding more wind than all but two other states currently have installed.
Last year, non-utility buyers, including Fortune 500 brands, cities, and universities signed long-term contracts for a total of 4,203MW—a 66% increase on the previous record set in 2015. Utilities also contracted over 4,300MW of wind power last year.
U.S. wind power capacity increased 8% in 2018 to 96,433MW of cumulative installed wind capacity. Wind energy now delivers over 20% of the electricity produced in six states: Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Maine. In 2018, wind turbines generated 6.5% of all the electricity delivered to U.S. consumers.
Looking ahead, the wind industry has a record amount of generation set to come on line in the near future with 35,135MW of wind power capacity either under construction or in advanced development across 31 states.
