The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reported in its third quarter (Q3) market report that the US wind energy industry installed 1,649MW of new power generating capacity in the third quarter, an amount higher than either the 2nd quarter of 2009 or the 3rd quarter of 2008, bringing the total capacity added this year to date to over 5,800MW.
AWEA also reported that wind turbine manufacturing still lags below 2008 levels, in both production and new announcements.?Since the early July announcement of rules to implement the stimulus bill, the wind industry has seen over 1,600 MW (enough to serve the equivalent of 480,000 average households) of completed projects, and over 1,700 MW of construction starts. These projects equate to about US$ 6.5 billion in new investment.? AWEA does not expect the fourth quarter of 2009 to be as strong as the fourth quarter of 2008 since the 5,000MW now under construction is nearly 38% lower than the over 8,000MW under construction at this time last year.