January 29, 2003—According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the total installed wind electric generating capacity expanded by nearly 10 percent during 2002, with 410 megawatts of new equipment going into service (enough to meet the annual needs of approximately 120,000 average American homes). At year’s end, AWEA says, wind plants in twenty-seven states across the country totaled 4,685 megawatts.
The total was down sharply from 2001, when a record 1,696 megawatts were installed.
Key to the industry’s growth in 2003, AWEA adds, will be a proposed multiyear extension of the existing federal wind energy production tax credit, which is currently scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2003. Congress has allowed the tax credit to expire twice before renewing it—in 1999 and 2001.
A state-by-state map of wind energy projects is available on AWEA’s Web site.
