May 16, 2008—Wind power could provide 20% of US electricity needs by 2030, according to a new report from the Department of Energy (DOE). The report, titled 20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply, identifies the steps that need to be addressed to reach the 20% goal, including reducing the cost of wind technologies, building new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability.
The report was produced by DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories with the assistance of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), engineering consultants from Black and Veatch Corporation, and more than 50 energy organizations and corporation.
According to the report, reaching the 20% goal will require boosting wind power from its current generating capacity of 16.8 gigawatts (GW) to 304 GW in 2030, an 18-fold increase. Despite the magnitude of that challenge, most of the report’s key findings are encouraging.
Notably, the report concludes that 20% wind power can be reliably integrated into the grid at a cost of less than 0.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which compares favorably to today’s average retail price of electricity in the United States, at 8.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.
For more information, see the DOE Web site.
