Wind Turbines: Behind the Spin (.PDF Download)

June 13, 2017
Wind Turbines: Behind the Spin (.PDF Download)

Wind power is one of the leading clean alternatives to fossil fuels for energy generation. It currently contributes about 6% to the United States’ power grid—a number that is expected to grow to 20% by 2020, according to the Department of Energy’s Wind Vision report.

To put that amount of power into perspective, there are currently more than 1,000 wind power projects currently operating in the U.S. utilizing 53,000 turbines (in 41 states) generating 84,143 MW. Continuing on the numbers trend, there are roughly 500 manufacturing facilities building those turbines and infrastructure, employing tens of thousands of workers to scale wind energy to solar sizes. While these wind farms are spread all over the U.S., a majority are spread across three states in particular: Texas (11,898), Iowa (3,965), and California (8,385), all of which provide power to millions of households in those respective states.

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