US wind industry begins work on 2 GW of capacity in Q1

With the start of construction of over 2 GW of additional wind farms in the first quarter of 2016, the US wind industry is currently building more than 10.1 GW of capacity in total, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said Thursday.

Texas accounted for 54% of construction underway during January-March 2016, followed by the Plains region of Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska with 18% of construction activity. The Midwest was third with 12%. AWEA’s US Wind Industry First Quarter 2016 Market Report shows that an additional 5.1 GW of projects are in advanced stages of development and nearing construction.

The US wind industry hooked to the grid some 520 MW of new electric generating capacity during the first quarter of 2016. Nearly half of that, 270 MW, was deployed in Oklahoma, while 154 MW were added in Iowa.

As a result, the country now has about 74.5 GW of installed wind capacity. This includes 48,800 wind turbines operating in 40 states plus Puerto Rico and Guam. The latter territory installed a utility-scale wind turbine for the first time in January-March 2016.

Turbine makers reported more than 800 MW of new orders in the first quarter. At the same time, over 660 MW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) were announced.

The US wind industry supported 88,000 jobs at the start of 2016.

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