The United States is expected to be home to an anticipated 49,000 MW of installed wind-power capacity by 2015, making it the world's largest wind-power producer, according to a recent report. Developers are expected to invest more than $65 billion between 2007 and 2015 in wind-power facilities, researchers say.
The United States is expected to be home to an anticipated 49,000 MW of installed wind-power capacity by 2015, making it the world’s largest wind-power producer, according to a recent report. Developers are expected to invest more than $65 billion between 2007 and 2015 in wind-power facilities, researchers say.
The report by Cambridge, Mass.-based Emerging Energy Research (EER) estimates the current wind-energy project pipeline at 125 GW of potential capacity at various stages of development. Researchers anticipate U.S. installed capacity in 2015 will total 19 percent of the global wind market.
EER expects 7,650 MW of new capacity to come online in 2007 and 2008, though transmission bottlenecks are projected to slow development between 2009 and 2011. The group believes these issues will be addressed by 2011, and growth could resume at rates as high as 5 GW per year by 2015. Texas is anticipated to account for 23 percent of capacity growth by 2015, with the combined total for California, Minnesota, New York, Colorado and Washington reaching an approximated 30 percent of total market growth.
