U.S. wind power market grew by $21 billion, 10 gigawatts in 2009

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The U.S. was one of the fastest-growing wind power markets in the world in 2009, second only to China, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Energy and prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Wind power additions in the United States set a new record in 2009, with 10 gigawatts of new capacity installed, representing a $21 billion investment. “At this pace, wind power is on a path to becoming a significant contributor to the U.S. power mix,” says co-author Ryan Wiser, a scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD). “Wind power projects accounted for 39 percent of all new electric generating capacity added in the U.S. in 2009, and wind energy is now able to deliver 2.5 percent of the nation’s electricity supply.”

The 2009 edition of the “Wind Technologies Market Report” provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the rapidly evolving U.S. wind power market. The need for an annual report of this type has grown as the wind power industry has entered an era of unprecedented expansion, both globally and in the United States.

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