The figures are in for the growth of wind energy in the U.S. for 2006. The industry grew by 20% to 11,600 megawatts (MW), enough to supply energy to about 3 million homes, said the American Wind Energy Association. About $4 billion was spent on wind energy development last year.
1,524 wind turbines were installed in the U.S. The average turbine capacity was 1.6 MW.
Texas leads the country with the largest single wind farm and the most wind power generation – 2,678 MW of installed turbines. California followed with 2,361 MW, then Iowa and Minnesota.
Washington leapfrogged into fifth place, thanks to the Big Horn and Wild Horse facilities that came online in 2006. The state’s wind farms produce about 818 MW, equivalent to almost half of the power used by Seattle.
The addition of the 140 MW Marengo wind farm in Washington will bring the state close to breaking through 1,000 MW. It’s expected to come online in August.
FPL Energy (NYSE: FPL) continues to dominate the U.S. wind energy market, managing four times the amount of wind generation than PPM Energy, a unit of Scottish Power Plc (SPW.L), the next largest project developer. FPL manages the largest wind farm in the U.S., the 736-MW Horse Hollow project in Texas.
GE Energy, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE) leads among turbine manufacturers, with over twice the turbines installed of its closest competitor, Siemens (NYSE: SI).
Its 1.5 MW turbine is the most widely installed, with 764 operating units, followed by the Siemens’ 2.3 MW turbine with 249 installed.
Vestas (VWS.CO) produced the largest installed wind turbine in the US – a 3 MW turbine for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California.
Among utilities, Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) units in Minnesota, Colorado and Texas use the most wind energy in the country, followed closely by Edison International (NYSE: EIX), a subsidiary Southern California Edison.
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