The US wind energy industry grew by 46% in 2007 due to tax cut, strong government support and urgency to adopt clean energy sources to fight global warming.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) said that the US wind power capacity rose by 46% last year with the total investment of $9 Billion in wind plants, making the US wind energy industry the fastest growing power market in the world for the third time in a row (since 2005).

DoE officials said that US wind power installation, industry performance and cost trends suggest that the country’s wind energy industry is moving in right direction to make a significant contribution to the power mix. The new installation projects in wind energy made up for 35% of all projects in the country’s power generating projects last year. Moreover, the transmission facilities that could produce more than 200 MW wind power are currently under development stage across the country.

In addition, state renewable portfolio standards, federal tax benefits, problems due to global warming and uncertainty over the future prices and liabilities of coal facilities and natural gas are some of the reasons that boosted growth in the US wind energy industry. Besides, tax incentives to boost growth in wind energy and spiraling prices of non-renewable energy sources gave an edge to the wind sector over traditional energy sources in the last few years.

Furthermore, the wind power demand is continuously increasing in the country, primarily due to good value wind power companies get in the wholesale power market. And in spite of a rise in project costs, the wind energy is consistently priced at par the average price of conventional power. The US wind energy sector is also rapidly growing because the US is bound to increase its power capacity to meet the rising power demand stemming from the growing population.

In addition, Andy Karsner, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, DoE, said that in-depth analysis of DoE research and its partners for economic and technical feasibility of harvesting wind energy indicate that wind energy will generate 20% of country’s electricity by 2030.

A Senior Research Analyst at RNCOS said, “The US wind energy industry is rapidly growing on the back of strong government support. Also, the wind energy sector would provide huge growth opportunities to equipment vendors. But most importantly, the growth in the US wind energy sector would help the nation in curtailing the burgeoning problem of global warming.”

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