A new report released by marketing research firm Emerging Energy Research (EER) highlights the US' booming wind energy market. According to their report, the US is on track to be generating 150 gigawatts of energy from wind power alone by 2020. While this would be an astonishing rate of growth, it still falls well short—by nearly 50 percent—of having 20 percent of the grid fed by wind, which both the Department of Energy and oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens believe the US can achieve.

In 2007, the United States' energy demands were met primarily by petroleum, coal, and natural gas; renewable energy sources accounted for only seven percent. Of the renewable energy sources, hydroelectric power generates the lion's share of electricity. At the end of March 2008, the US had an installed wind power capacity of 18,302 MW, accounting for only about one percent of the total usage in the country. However, times are a changin'.





Image credit: Emerging Energy Research

Installed wind power grew a staggering 45 percent in 2007, and that growth seems poised to continue. In a recent report, the Department of Energy said if a series of challenges are met, then the US should be able to derive a full 20 percent of its electric demand from wind power alone by 2030. Given the pace of construction—farms capable of generating eight gigawatts are under construction and expected to be on-line by the end of the year—a new report claims that the US will be generating over 150 gigawatts by 2020, short of the 20 percent goal, but an incredible amount of clean power.

Research and investments are being poured into this technology, which is helping fuel its rapid growth. In a recent research paper in the International Journal of Global Energy Issues, engineers in Greece examined the total cost of various "green" technologies to see how they stacked up to fossil fuels once construction, maintenance, and disposal were taken into account. They found that wind, along with geothermal, were the greenest alternatives to fossil fuels, so the boom in wind power is not only good for the US' energy independence, but it is good for the planet as well.

With the recent surge in wind power demand, there has been a similar surge in demand for the equipment needed for capturing the wind. In April, turbine manufacturer General Electric confirmed that a wind turbine shortage existed, and is growing. In a conference call to analysts, GE reported that they currently had a $12 billion backlog of orders booked but not shipped; over double that of just one year prior. This may be just the beginning, as marketing firm EER predicts that the market for turbines will grow to $16 billion by the end of 2015.

Not to be outdone by wind power, solar is making large leaps in terms of installed projects. In California, companies are in the middle of building a pair of massive solar plants that together will generate over 800 megawatts of power—over 12 times more power than the next largest plant currently in operation. The plants, when completed, will cover over 12.5 square miles in sunny central California. The scale of these plants is significant, as a previous study has shown that small solar installations are not actually an efficient alternative to other power sources. It's only once the scales became large enough that solar is a cleaner and greener alternative to fossil fuels.

While the latest available data shows that the United States has a long way to go before it will reach some of the lofty goals put forth for renewable energy, the surge in wind interest alone suggests that significant changes are underway. As the graphic accompanying this article shows, there are many states that have large amounts of wind energy production facilities in the construction pipeline. Once the planned projects are built, four states are set to be producing more wind power than the entirety of the country did in 2007.