Wind Passes 5.5% of U.S. Electric Generating Capacity

US wind generation reached 5.5% of the grid in 2016; 5 Heartland states now more than 20% wind-powered

March 6, 2017 (American Wind Energy Association)

“....[W]ind supplied over 5.5 percent of electricity nationwide, up from 4.7 percent in 2015 [according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)]…With 99 percent of wind turbines located in rural areas, wind power’s steady growth as a share of the nation’s electricity supply has been accompanied by a surge of investment in rural America…[that reached over $13.8 billion in 2016]…In Oklahoma, wind’s share of total electricity generation grew from 18.4 percent in 2015 to 25.1 percent in 2016. In Iowa, wind grew from 31.5 percent to 36.6 percent – the highest in the nation – and in Kansas, wind’s share increased from 24.1 percent to 29.6 percent…[South Dakota became] the second state in the country to generate over 30 percent of its electricity from wind energy, and North Dakota [got] to 21.5 percent wind…” click here for more

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