Wind Powering America is a commitment to dramatically increase the use of wind energy in the United States. This initiative will establish new sources of income for American farmers, Native Americans, and other rural landowners, and meet the growing demand for clean sources of electricity.

Through Wind Powering America, the United States will achieve targeted regional economic development, enhance our power generation options, protect the local environment, and increase our energy and national security.

The first commercial wind farms were constructed in California in the early 1980s, and after reaching 1,000 MW in 1985, it took more than a decade for wind to reach the 2,000-MW mark in 1999. Since then, installed capacity has grown fivefold. Today, U.S. wind energy installations produce enough electricity on a typical day to power the equivalent of over 2.5 million homes.

To dramatically increase the use of wind energy in the United States, Wind Powering America concentrates its efforts in "stuck" markets, i.e., avoids investing resources in markets that are fully commercial and active; develops innovative pilot projects; replicates successes; and develops and disseminates targeted information, analyses, and tools � WPA augments the efforts of DOE's wind research program, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), and other wind related organizations to identify and address gaps in technical information and tools needed for its program areas. Examples include: development and access to simplified spreadsheet tools for initial analyses of wind project economics and economic development impacts, development and distribution of state specific wind maps and small wind application guidebooks, and publication of a brochure that focuses on wind opportunities, case studies, and economics for rural electric coops.



Wind Powering America
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Wind Power in USA