A record-setting year for American wind power keeps getting better as the United States has become the world’s top wind energy producer.
This story from Environment News Service cites an American Wind Energy Association year-end report that says steady growth has helped the Americans surpass their German counterparts:
AWEA says that this summer, the U.S. wind industry reached the 20,000-megawatt installed capacity milestone, doubling installed wind power generating capacity since 2006.
By the end of September, the U.S. had over 21,000 megawatts of wind capacity up and running. Germany had 22,300 megawatts, but U.S. windpower developers sprinted to the end of the year while German wind development slowed.
“With additional projects coming on line every week since, the wind industry is on its way to charting another record-shattering year of growth,” AWEA said in its report.
That 21,000 megawatts of capacity are expected to generate over 60 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2009, enough to serve over 5.5 million American homes.
This means that in 2009 wind power is estimated to displace the burning of 30.4 million short tons of coal – enough to fill a coal train that would stretch 2,000 miles, from Washington, DC to the middle of Utah.
You can read the AWEA’s top wind accomplishments of 2008 by clicking here.