How much of the world's electricity supply is generated from wind and who are the leading generators?

Last Updated: August 30, 2011

Worldwide wind power generation exceeded 250 billion kilowatthours in 2009, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 22 million average households in the United States. Wind generation increased by about 20% from 2008 to 2009, and has more than tripled since 2004. This growth is mostly due to capacity increases in the United States, China, India, and Western Europe. Despite this growth, the world still generated only 1% of its total electricity from wind power in 2009

Maintaining its position for two years in a row, the United States led all other countries in wind power generation in 2009. The remaining top-ten wind power generators, listed in descending order, were Germany, Spain, China, India, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Denmark, and Italy. Although about 35 countries reported significant wind power generation in 2009, these top-ten countries accounted for more than 85% of all wind generation worldwide. Wind generation in China continues to grow rapidly. Wind generation growth in the country increased by an average of 80% each year since 2004 and doubled from 2008 to 2009.

Nearly 20% of Denmark's electricity generation came from wind in 2009. The next highest levels of wind penetration are found in Portugal at 16%, Spain at 13%, Ireland at 11%, and Germany at 7%. No other country surpassed 5% penetration, including the United States, which generated almost 2% of its electricity from wind in 2009.

According to the World and European Wind Energy Associations, installed global wind capacity reached 197,000 megawatts by the end of 2010, with just over 3,000 MW of that total located offshore. Even though offshore development lags behind onshore, generally due to higher costs and technology constraints, over 1,000 MW were built in 2010. Western Europe is home to nearly all existing offshore capacity; Japan and China have started to add offshore wind farms of their own. As of June 2011, there were no operating offshore wind farms in the United States, although the Department of the Interior approved construction plans for the 420-megawatt Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast in April 2011.

Over the lifetime of the plant, electricity from wind power generally costs more than electricity from power plants burning fossil fuels.1 However, wind power is expected to continue to grow worldwide because of favorable government policies. Multiple types of government support exist, including a production tax credit and State renewable electricity portfolio standards in the United States, a feed-in tariff (see the "Did You Know" box on the left) in Germany, and wind capacity targets in China.

1 Although wind farms have relatively low operating costs, capital investment costs are significant. In addition, the intermittent nature of wind results in relatively low capacity factors, such that a wind plant will generate less electricity than a conventional thermal or hydroelectric plant of the same size and over the same period of time. As a result of the high capital costs and intermittency associated with wind, the "levelized cost of electricity" (LCOE) – or the sum of the plant's present value of capital and operating costs, divided by its generation over the plant's lifetime – tends to be higher for wind than for most conventional generation types.
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New Report Ranks Top 12 States Leading the U.S. in Solar Power

(Environment America)  Today, Environment America Research & Policy Center released Lighting the Way: What We Can Learn from America’s Top 12 Solar States, a new report highlighting a solar energy boom across the country. The top 12 solar states ranked by per capita solar are: Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii New Jersey, New Mexico, California, Delaware, Colorado, Vermont, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Maryland.

“The sky’s the limit on solar energy,” said Rob Sargent, energy program director with Environment America. “The progress of these states should give us the confidence that we can do much more. Being a leader in pollution-free solar energy means setting big goals and backing them up with good policies.”

The report emphasizes that it is not availability of sunlight that makes states solar leaders, but the degree to which state and local governments have created effective public policy for the development of the solar industry. States with more homeowners and businesses “going solar” share these strong policies:

• 11 of the 12 leading states have strong net metering policies, which allow customers to offset their electric bills with onsite solar and receive reliable and fair compensation for the excess electricity they provide to the grid.
• 11 of the 12 states have renewable electricity standards, requiring utilities to provide a minimum amount of their power from renewable sources; and nine of them have solar carve outs, which set specific targets for solar or other forms of clean onsite power.
• 10 of the 12 have strong statewide interconnection policies. Interconnection policies reduce the time and hassle required for individuals and companies to connect solar energy systems to the grid.
• The majority of the top solar states allow for creative financing options such as third-party power purchase agreements and property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing.

Strong commitment shows among the elected officials of leading solar states.

“Encouraging solar power is the right thing to do for the environment and our economy,” said Delaware Governor Jack Markell. “We are aggressively working toward a clean energy future in Delaware, demonstrating we can have both a strong economy and a healthy environment. That means creating a robust market for solar and other clean energy systems, creating clean energy jobs, expanding our solar industry, and improving air quality by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.”

“Building our state’s solar market is a top priority in Maryland. Our renewable energy portfolio standard and energy consumption reduction goals are among the most aggressive in the country,” said Governor O’Malley. "Today, we have more than 1,410 times more solar on our state’s grid and 2,000 more solar installation jobs than in 2007. Together, we can create a more sustainable future for generations to come."

“Environment America’s ranking of Hawaii as a leader in solar energy is encouraging and demonstrates our state’s commitment to achieving its clean energy goals,” said Hawaii’s Governor Neil Abercrombie. “Continuing our momentum, I recently enacted legislation to establish Hawaii’s innovative Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) program, which will provide a financing model to make clean energy improvements more affordable and within reach to underserved members of our community. This includes small businesses, nonprofits, community organizations and individuals. Utilizing all facets of our diverse renewable energy landscape is key, and we are succeeding in removing barriers to allow a greater segment of our community to invest in and benefit from clean, alternative resources such as solar.”

“Vermont is putting solar power to work and is leading the way to a clean energy future that tackles the threat of climate change while growing jobs and the economy,” Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said. “We have more than doubled our solar energy in the last two and a half years, but we know our work is not done. We plan to keep Vermont at the forefront of this energy revolution.”

Solar is on the rise across the country. According to the U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2012 Year-in-Review report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, America had more than three times as much solar capacity as it did in 2010, and more than 10 times as much as it did in 2007. To boot, SEIA also found that the price to install a solar system fell by 26 percent in 2012.

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA, underlined the report’s findings that solar energy deployment is skyrocketing. “There is now more than 8,500 MW of cumulative solar electric capacity installed in the U.S. – enough to power more than 1.3 million American homes,” Resch explained. “Solar now employs nearly 120,000 Americans at more than 5,600 companies, most of which are small businesses spread across the U.S.”

“More and more, homes and businesses are turning to solar as a pollution-free energy source with no fuel costs,” said Sargent. “With the increasing threat of global warming, these leading states must continue their momentum and other states must catch up.”

While these 12 states account for only 28 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 85 percent of the nation’s installed solar energy.

Environment America urges the federal government to continue key tax credits for solar energy like the Investment Tax Credit, encourage responsible development of prime solar resources on public lands, and support research, development and deployment efforts designed to reduce the cost of solar energy and smooth the incorporation of large amounts of solar energy into the electric grid.

“Right now, only a small fraction of our energy comes from solar,” concluded Sargent. “By setting a bold goal of getting 10 percent of our energy from the sun by 2030 and adopting strong policies to support that goal, the U.S. can follow in the footsteps of the 12 top solar states and put us on track to becoming a global leader in solar power.”

Lighting the Way: What We Can Learn from America’s Top 12 Solar States Report

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