Wind was primary US renewables source in 2019

Wind power became the US’ largest source of renewable energy generation in 2019, according to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA’s) annual report.

by Craig Richard 17 April 2020

Wind provided more than 7% of the US' electricity in 2019, according to AWEA

Wind projects provided 7.2% of electricity in 2019, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous year.

It also accounted for more than a fifth of the electricity produced in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota, and generated more electricity than any other technology in Iowa and Kansas.

Its increased share of electricity generation came in the third-strongest year for US installations, as developers connected 9.1GW of new wind power to the grid, bringing the country’s cumulative capacity to 105.5GW.

Large-scale deployment of wind has also boosted grid reliability, AWEA noted.

For example, in the Southwest Power Pool wind met 28% of total electricity demand in 2019, and at times represented nearly 70% of power generation.

There is now a wind farm or wind-related manufacturing facility in all 50 US states, according to AWEA.

At the end of the year, the country’s 530-plus wind-related production plants supported 120,000 jobs, it added.

Businesses and utilities signed a record 8,726MW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed for wind power output last year.

US wind power is set for further growth, AWEA stated, with 44GW of capacity either under construction or in advanced stages of development.

Meanwhile, the US’ offshore wind pipeline grew to 25.4GW last year, with 16.3GW of new targets announced. Developers now plan to bring 9.1GW online by 2026.