The United States has seen rapid growth in wind power generation in recent years, but China's development in this area is not far behind. Data from a report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy shows that China has slightly surpassed the United States to become the world's fastest-growing country in wind power generation; in terms of wind power growth rate in 2009, China's newly built wind power projects accounted for 36%, while the United States only accounted for 26%.
Although the United States had a slightly lower growth rate, its total wind power generation still ranked first in the world at the end of 2009, reaching 35,000 megawatts; China's total was approximately 25,853 megawatts; followed by Germany with 25,813 megawatts.
The report points out that changes in the wind power market are difficult to track due to the conflicting forces of economic recession and generous government policies. Furthermore, low natural gas prices have led to lower wholesale electricity prices, harming wind power development. The Department of Energy also warns that electricity price competition will continue for some time, especially given the recent active pursuit of shale gas development globally by many large oil companies; therefore, even with future economic recovery, natural gas prices are unlikely to rise.
Wind power development costs also rose in 2009, averaging $2,120 per kilowatt. This increased cost made wind power less attractive than other power generation options. However, wind power development costs may decrease in the future. With more and more companies in the US manufacturing wind turbine components, the value of component imports also decreased; it was $4.2 billion in 2009, lower than $4.6 billion in 2007 and $5.4 billion in 2008.
Texas added 2,292 megawatts of wind power in 2009, the most in the nation. Besides Texas, Iowa, Dakota, and Minnesota are the only three other states in the U.S. where wind power exceeds their total electricity generation.
–Source and time: International Trade Office, Houston Business Journal
