Thousands of wind turbines are already in operation and thousands more are being planned.
Growth in the wind industry “[T]he U.S. wind industry is growing rapidly,” driven by several policy incentives such as federal production tax credits, and renewable portfolio standards in roughly 50% of the states. See DOE, 20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply 1 (July 2008) (“DOE 20% Wind Report”).59 The DOE has announced a collaborative effort in which wind power is expected to provide 20% of U.S. electricity by 2030. Id. The 20% wind U.S. scenario would require an installation rate of 16 GW per year after 2018. SeeFigure 1: Cumulative and Annual Wind Installations By 2030.
Put in most recent data from USGS and FAA (Mike?) Figure 1: Cumulative and Annual Wind Installations By 203060 The number of operating wind turbines is estimated at 30,000 in 2009 and will likely increase to over 70,000 turbines by end of 2011.61SeeFigure 2: Wind Turbines in the United States (2003-2011); Table: 1: Increase in Proposed and Existing Wind Turbines in the United States (2003-2011).
Figure 2: Estimate of Wind Turbines in the United States (2003-2011)
Figure 2 (above) is based on all unique wind turbines and associated meteorological tower proposals submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration/Obstruction Evaluation/Airport Airspace Analysis offices (“FAA - OE/AAA”). Wind turbines that were already proposed or existing prior to 2003 are not included in this analysis. Although meteorological towers were proposed during 2003-2007, they are not included in this data set due to data compilation and processing issues.
Table 1: Estimated Increase in Wind Turbines in the United States (2003-2011)
