Renewable Energy

Fact Sheet | Wind Energy

By

May 1, 2006

Table of Contents

    Wind Energy: Harnessing the wind to generate electricity


    Key Facts:

    • The spinning blades of wind turbines convert energy from the wind’s motion into electricity.
    • Installed US wind power plants had 6,740 megawatts (MW) of electrical capacity in 2004, enough to serve 1.6 million households.
    • The cost of wind power is competitive with other energy sources. With the Production Tax Credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), wind power costs between $0.03 and $0.06 per kWh, a huge decline from $0.80 per kWh in 1980.
    • Wind power is one of the fastest growing energy sources in the United States: its capacity increased on average 25 percent per year from 1990 to 2003. Although capacity increased by only 6 percent in 2004, due to the expiration of the Production Tax Credit, the American Wind Energy Association anticipates that over 2000 MW of wind power capacity will be added in 2005, more than in any previous year.

     

    Download the full fact sheet in PDF format.