WASHINGTON DC. – Building new wind farms in the U.S has added $13 billion a year on average to the American economy over the past five years. According to information released today by the American Wind Energy Association – more money each year than the annual revenue generated by Major League Baseball.
“By building new wind farms across the country over the past decade, wind companies have invested $128 billion into the U.S. economy,” said Tom Kiernan CEO of AWEA. “Over this time, wind has rapidly scaled-up. There’s now enough wind power installed to reliably produce electricity for over 19 million American homes. Continuing to invest in world-class wind resources here at home will help keep our lights on, grow state economies, and keep more money in the pockets of homeowners and businesses.”
Wind energy was the number one source for new electric capacity additions in 2015, with 8,598 MW installed. That number translates to $14.7 billion dollars in wind project investment in one year, a 73 percent increase over the $8.5 billion invested in new projects in 2014 – and a more than seven-fold increase over investments by wind in 2013.
The recent boom-bust cycle of investment, caused by repeated expirations of the Production Tax Credit and alternative Investment Tax Credit, will now be smoothed out by the tax credits’ long-term extension through the end of the decade, as Congress approved in the budget package last December.
“The rapid rise of wind energy in the U.S. is clearly benefiting state economies. This American success story will continue in 2016 and beyond as there’s an additional 9.4 gigawatts of wind under construction now, on top of 4.9 GW in advanced stages of development,” said John Hensley, Manager of Industry Data & Analysis for AWEA.
The $14.7 billion dollars in project investment last year is nearly the same amount as the total 2015 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Iceland, according to the World Bank. And beyond Major League Baseball, wind’s average annual project investment in the U.S. over the last five years is also the same as the annual revenue generated by the National Football League.
Across the country, wind power’s rapid growth continues to attract new investment into state economies. Texas currently leads all states in terms of cumulative project investment, with over $32 billion injected into the Lone Star State’s economy alone. Rounding out the top five states are California at $11.9 billion, Iowa at $11.8 billion, Oklahoma at $9.6 billion, and Illinois at $7.7 billion.
