WASHINGTON, DC, US. Wind turbines now generate enough electricity to serve 4.5 million homes in the United States, according to the latest ranking from the American Wind Energy Association.

Texas is rated in top spot for both total wind capacity and new wind additions by the end of 2007. It had a total of 4,446 MW installed, ahead of California with 2,439, Minnesota with 1,299, Iowa 1,271 and Washington with 1,163 MW. It added 1,618 MW last year, ahead of 776 in Colorado, 592 in Illinois, 447 in Oregon and 405 MW added in Minnesota.

“Texas is the nation's leader in wind energy thanks to our long-term commitment to bolstering renewable energy sources and diversifying the state's energy portfolio,” says Governor Rick Perry. “Wind power plays an essential role in providing Texans clean, affordable and reliable energy, and we hope to continually expand our generation capacity far into the future.”

Iowa is the state with the largest percentage of wind in all generation, at 5.5%, followed by Minnesota with 4.6%, New Mexico 3.9%, Oregon 3.5% and South Dakota with 2.6%. The largest single windfarm in operation in the U.S. is the 736 MW Horse Hollow facility in Texas, which was completed in 2006 by FPL Energy, and all of the top five windfarms are located in the southwestern U.S.

The largest turbine manufacturer last year was GE Energy, which had 2,340 MW of capacity from 1,560 turbines, ahead of Vestas (953 / 537), Siemens (863 / 375), Gamesa (574 / 287) and Mitsubishi (356 MW / 356 turbines). The industry installed 3,200 turbines last year and, with 1,560 units installed, the GE 1.5 MW turbine is the most widely used.

Vestas has installed its 3 MW turbine in California and Texas, and Clipper and Nordex have installed 2.5 MW turbines in five states, while Siemens has installed its 2.3 MW unit in five states and Suzlon has installed its 2.1 MW turbine in three states. Turbines stand 150 m tall, while the length of blades and height of towers can vary to accommodate specific location and wind speed needs.

Xcel Energy tops the rankings as the investor-owned utility with the most wind power on its grid, at 2,635 MW, while CPS Energy (Texas) leads public utilities with 501 MW and Great River Energy tops rural electric cooperatives with 218 MW.

Wind has been the second-largest source of new power capacity in the country, behind natural gas, for the past three years. AWEA credits the expansion to the stability over that period of the renewable energy production tax credit, which is set to expire at the end of this year.

“Previous short-term extensions have led to a boom-and-bust cycle in the wind industry, increasing costs along the entire supply chain and preventing businesses from growing to their full potential,” the group warns. “Studies indicate that an expiration of the tax credit will place $19 billion in renewable energy investment and 116,000 American jobs at risk.”

“The numbers in this year’s rankings also underscore the wind energy industry’s strong growth and the fact that wind is a bright spot in the U.S. economy,” says Randall Swisher of AWEA. “Hopefully, federal policymakers will take note and move quickly to extend the wind PTC incentive, providing the foundation for further investment and job creation going forward.”

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