Seven US states, from Nebraska to Massachusetts, will soon build enough wind turbines to more than double their capacity to generate wind energy, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) U.S. Wind Industry Third Quarter 2018 Market Report.
Those include heartland states with land-based wind under development—Arkansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming—as well as coastal states Maryland and Massachusetts, where offshore wind is poised to scale up.
The report also reveals the first firm orders for 4MW land-based wind turbines, nearly twice as powerful as the average wind turbine installed in 2017. The average utility-scale wind turbine installed in 2017 was rated at 2.32 MW. In the third quarter, new orders for wind turbines include land-based turbines above 4 MW for the first time.
There is a strong near-term wind farm pipeline comprised of 37,965 MW of wind power capacity. These wind farms are either actively under construction or have entered advanced stages of development. During the third quarter, projects totaling 2,180 MW started construction and a further 2,327 MW entered advanced development. U.S. wind farms now represent a total 90,550 MW of electricity generating capacity, with 612 MW installed in the third quarter of 2018.