Texas maintains strong lead in wind energy

Bizjournal.com, April 30,2009

Two more states have joined the “gigawatt club,” according to the first-quarter report from the American Wind Energy Association — but Texas remains firmly in the lead.

The list is comprised of states with more than a gigawatt of wind-power generating capacity.

Kansas and New York are the newest members of the gigawatt club, at 1.014 and 1.261 gigawatts of capacity, respectively. Texas’ 7.907 gigawatts is more than twice that of second-place Iowa, which has 2.883. Alternative energy darling California, with 2.653 gigawatts, is third on the list. Minnesota, Washington, Oregon and Colorado round out the list.

Texas also is on track to exceed the 8 gigawatt mark. After completing another portion of the Roscoe project in Central Texas — the largest wind energy project in the nation — EON Climate & Renewables North America’s total generation has hit 584.5 megawatts. The next 197-MW phase, scheduled for completion soon, should push Texas over the 8 gigawatt mark.

Across the nation, more than 2.8 GW of new capacity was installed in the first quarter of 2009

The report was released in advance of the annual Windpower conference that kicks off in Chicago on May 4. Last year, the event took place at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center.