How important is wind energy for the US economy?

Wind energy industry is second fastest growing clean energy industry in the United States, behind the solar energy industry. Wind energy is rapidly developing in many US states, with Texas currently leading the way. United States also plans to focus more on offshore wind energy in years to come.

The rapid wind energy development has played major role in the US economy in the last couple of years. In the year 2012, wind power was for the first time in US history, a number one source of newly generated electricity in the country, meaning that wind turbines installed across the United States in 2012, provided more electricity than any other source of power generation.

The addition of 13 gigawatts of new capacity made wind the year’s leader in newly installed capacity with a 42 percent share by taking the leader position from natural gas. In 2012, United States ended the year with 45,100 wind turbines that can power 15.2 million average US homes.

The year 2012 was remarkable for US wind energy industry because of record-setting $25 billion in private investment that was added to the U.S. economy in new wind farm construction, a 28% increase in comparison to 2011. Wind energy industry provided around 80,000 jobs in United States in 2012.

There are currently around 560 factories across the United States that provide parts for wind turbines as well as offering other services for wind energy industry in general. It has been reported that in the last 8 years wind industry has brought more than $105 billion of private investment into the US economy.

There will soon be new reports for the US wind energy industry, and how well it fared in 2013. So far, everything indicates that 2013 will be yet another excellent year for the US wind energy industry. The utility interest for wind energy isn't stopping, in fact it looks to be stronger than ever.