U.S. Wind Power Growth Stalled in 2013 as Prices Drop to All-Time Lows - IEEE Spectrum
A Department of Energy report on wind energy technologies and market status highlights dramatic cost reductions amidst a tenuous and uncertain future for the renewable energy source. Installations of wind power in the United States in 2013 didn’t come close to matching the previous few years, and federal policy uncertainty points to a shaky outlook for continued growth.
The industry added 1087 megawatts of new wind capacity in 2013 in the United States, which is amazingly only eight percent of that added in 2012. By the end of 2013 the total installed capacity had reached about 61 gigawatts. It was a down by another measure as well: wind power made up seven percent of all new electricity generating additions, compared with a six-year run before 2013 where that number ranged between 25 and 43 percent.
As 2013 came to a close, wind energy proponents mourned the death of the production tax credit, the primary federal support mechanism to help spur growth in the industry.
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