Windwas the number one source of power for new electric capacity installed in 2015,recapturing that crown from natural gas, according to the American Wind EnergyAssociation's latest "U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report,"released April 12.
While 2012 was the first year AWEA reported wind overtakingother energy sources in terms of new energy installations, natural gas was theleader in 2014, providing 44% of new electric generating capacity, compared to24% from wind, according to AWEA's 2014 report.
2015 also saw the most electricity generated by wind in oneyear in U.S. history, with 191 million MWh, equivalent to 16 nuclear reactors,AWEA said.
The report's numbers support the continued importance of taxcredits for the wind industry. Much of the surge in wind turbine installationsin 2015 is explained by the expiration of the wind production tax credit at theend of 2014, according to AWEA Manager for Industry Data and Analysis JohnHensley.
But Hensley also stressed that "we saw a lot ofcompanies that see value in the low cost of wind" even without the tax credit.
Long-term contracts in general are the dominant force forthe development of wind projects. Of the 8,598 MW of new wind in 2015, 59% werecontracted under power purchase agreements, according to the report.
Mostpower purchase agreements were for wind projects clustered in Texas, Oklahomaand Kansas, but there were also projects in California, South Dakota, New York,Michigan and North Carolina, among other places.
There wasalso diversity among the utilities and parties on the other side of theseagreements. There were several examples of entities in regions not known forwind power signing up to use wind energy through contracts, according to AWEAResearch Analyst Hannah Hunt."We really saw the wind industry grow further into other reaches ofthe country" in 2015, she said.
Geography did have a significant impact on wind's popularityin 2015 and preceding years. In the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, natural gas wasbigger than wind for new capacity. From 2011 to 2015, 59% of all new capacityin the Mid-Atlantic and 89% in the Southeast were from natural gas-firedplants. But in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains states and the Midwest,wind provided 59% or more of new capacity over that period from 2011 to 2015.