by Shane Henson — February 13, 2013—The U.S. wind energy industry had its strongest year ever in 2012, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently announced, installing a record 13,124 megawatts (MW) of electric generating capacity, leveraging $25 billion in private investment, and achieving over 60,000 MW of cumulative wind capacity.
The milestone of 60,000 MW (60 gigawatts) was reached just five months after AWEA announced last August that the U.S. industry had 50,000 MW installed. Today’s 60,007 MW is enough clean, affordable, American wind power to power the equivalent of almost 15 million homes, or the number in Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, and Ohio combined, the organization says.
The AWEA was also pleased to report that wind energy for the first time became the number one source of new U.S. electric generating capacity, providing some 42 percent of all new generating capacity. In fact, it says, 2012 was a strong year for all renewables, as together they accounted for over 55 percent of all new U.S. generating capacity.
“It is a real testament to American innovation and hard work that for the first time ever a renewable energy source was number one in new capacity,” remarked AWEA Interim CEO Rob Gramlich.
AWEA believes that wind energy plays a crucial part in the nation’s progress toward a cleaner energy system. According to the organization, currently installed wind power will avoid 95.9 million metric tons a year of carbon dioxide emissions, equal to 1.8 percent of the entire country’s carbon emissions.
AWEA said the top states for new capacity installations in 2012 were:
- Texas (1,826 MW)
- California (1,656 MW)
- Kansas (1,440 MW)
- Oklahoma (1,127 MW)
- Illinois (823 MW)
- Iowa (814 MW)
- Oregon (640 MW)
- Michigan (611 MW)
- Pennsylvania (550 MW)
- Colorado (496 MW)
