AWEA said the US added just 395MW of wind power in the third quarter of 2010, bringing the year-to-date installations to 1,634MW.
This year US wind projects have been installed at half the European rate, and a third the rate of China, AWEA said.
The association blames Congress’s failure to pass a national renewable electricity standard, which would specify the proportion of electricity that must be derived from renewable resources.
In Q3 2010 Oregon added the most wind capacity of any state with 175MW – surpassing the historical leader, Texas.
Another leader, Iowa – which is second only to Texas in its installed wind capacity – has not installed a single megawatt in 2010.
National year-to-date installations were down 72 percent on 2009, AWEA said.
Other findings from AWEA’s third quarter report:
- Total wind capacity through September 2010 reached 36,698MW.
- About 4,700MW worth of construction has begun in the past six months.
- At least nine wind projects totalling over 700MW signed long-term power purchase agreements in Q3.
AWEA’s findings closely match those of “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç’s Windicator, which found 474 MW of new US capacity installed between July and October 2010.
The report follows comments by Wu Yin the deputy director of China’s National Energy Bureau that China would overtake the US in installed capacity by the end of the year.
The Third Quarter Market Report can be found via
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