Source: American Wind Energy Association

Cumulative global wind energy generating capacity topped 31,000 megawatts (MW) in 2002. Some 6,868 MW of new capacity were installed worldwide during the year, an increase of 28%, according to preliminary estimates by the American Wind Energy Association and the European Wind Energy Association. Wind plants now power the equivalent of 7.5 million average American homes (16 million average European homes) worldwide.

Global wind power generating capacity has quadrupled over the past five years, growing from 7,600 MW at the end of 1997 to an estimated 31,128 MW at the end of 2002 -- an increase of over 23,000 MW. Wind is the world's fastest-growing energy source on a percentage basis, with installed generating capacity increasing by an average 32% annually for the last five years (1998-2002).
American Wind Energy Association
Global Market Report - 2003

As of January, 2004, the total wind energy capacity worldwide was approximately 37,220 megawatts, with total electricity production of about 97 billion kWhs - roughly eight times Maine's consumption. Total investment to date is over $40 billion. Wind turbine reliability is well above that of most conventional generating technologies, with current average down time at only 1 to 2 percent.

Source: American Wind Energy Association
(Installed capacity reached 37,220 MW by 1/04)

There are several reasons why wind energy is growing so rapidly. In addition to low cost and high reliability, it has other benefits. Construction takes months instead of years. Wind turbines can be added in small increments to match growth in demand. Wind energy is popular as well: dozens of surveys conducted in the U.S. and abroad consistently show a preference for wind energy. Wind energy creates 27 percent more jobs than advanced coal technology and twenty times more jobs than natural gas combined cycle. With wind energy, customers pay for people, not fuel. And of course wind energy has zero emissions, an obvious environmental benefit. In short, wind energy is both environmentally and economically sustainable. Wind farms will still be spinning long after all nuclear plants are shut down and natural-gas-fired plants have run out of economical fuel. Since only a miniscule fraction of the wind potential has been tapped, the industry is expected to continue to grow at a rapid rate for many years. Wind is projected to be the lowest-cost energy resource in five years.

A Large Resource

The total wind resource in the US is about 3,000 quads or 30 times our current total energy consumption and about 500 times larger than the total hydroelectric resource.

Of the very large (3,000 quad) theoretical wind resource in the US, only a small portion is technically and economically recoverable. A DOE study put the recoverable portion at about 120 quads-about 20% more than the total US energy consumption. Maine has an above average wind resource. Endless Energy Corporation has measured several sites which are more windy than most of the wind farm sites developed around the world to date. Wind energy could supply 15 to 30 percent of Maine's electricity within ten to twenty years. (Biomass went from 0 to about 25 percent during the 1980s.)

Lowest Cost Power Over the Long Run

Along with hydroelectric power, wind farms are likely to produce the lowest cost power over the long run. Here's why. The lowest cost power comes from old hydroelectric dams. The reason this power is so cheap is that the capital costs of the dam have been paid for, there are no fuel costs, the operating and maintenance costs are very low, and lots of water keeps coming year after year after year. A good wind farm site will be similar. Although O&M costs will be slightly higher, they will still be lower than any thermal plant. Like hydro power, wind uses a kinetic energy source from nature to directly turn a generator. Unlike thermal plants, there is no need to convert chemical (or nuclear) energy to heat and then to mechanical energy. There is no fuel handling, combustion equipment, boilers, pollution control, etc. Wind energy, like hydro, will have a consistently low cost while producing no pollution...forever.

Environmentally Sustainable

How we find, extract, and use energy probably has a greater effect on the environment than any other human activity. Electric power production creates a third of all air pollution.

Nationwide, as many as 30,000 deaths a year are related to power plant emissions, according to a study by Abt Associates, a private research organization that does work for the EPA. By comparison, 16,000 Americans are killed each year in drunken driving accidents, and more than 17,000 are victims of homicides. Washington Post 3/6/02

This is the equivalent to a World Trade Center disaster once every five weeks.

Power production also is a major contributor to greenhouse gasses. The warmest month ever recorded by humans was July 1999. The warmest year ever recorded was 1998. The warmest decade ever recorded was the 1990s. The warmest century in the last 10,000 years was the 20th century. (2001 was the second warmest year-remarkable for a non El Nino year.)

Wind energy must play an important role in a sustainable energy future. Winds are renewable energy, resulting from the sun's uneven heating of the earth. Wind energy may be the most promising technology available to produce significant amounts of energy economically and without pollution. (Greenpeace, which is fervently supporting wind energy, claims wind energy, on its own and at no cost, could achieve one third of the emissions reductions called for in the Kyoto accord. The Maine State Planning Office's State of Maine Climate Action Plan rates windpower as one of the five best policies for reducing global warming out of a list of 75 options.) This is the type of strong foundation on which we can build an economically and environmentally sustainable economy.

For more information:

A quick search in Google will reveal numerous websites about wind energy. For general information about wind energy, an excellent resource is the AWEA FAQ page. They cover a wide range of topics about wind energy. For images and video, see our gallery of wind farms in New England.