Wind power in the United States
The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2008 report "20% Wind Energy by 2030" envisioned that wind power could supply 20% of all U.S. electric power, which included a contribution of 4% to the nation’s total electric power from offshore wind power. In order to achieve this, however, significant advances in cost, performance and reliability are needed, based on a 2011 report from a coalition of researchers from universities, industry, and government, supported by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. Obtaining 20% from wind requires about 305 GW of wind turbines, an increase of 16 GW/year after 2018, or an average increase of 14.6%/year, and transmission line improvements. Analysts estimate around 25 GW of added US wind power in 2016-18, depending on the Clean Power Plan and PTC extensions. After the current PTC phase-out in 2021, additional wind power capacity is expected to be around 5 GW per year.
In 2015, electric power generation from wind power was 10 percent or more in twelve U.S. states: Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, and South Dakota, Vermont, and Texas.
Iowa, South Dakota, and Kansas each had more than 20 percent of their electric power generation come from wind. Twenty states now have more than five percent of their generation coming from wind.
Wind power in Maine
As of the end of 2016, 901 megawatts of wind generation capacity had been installed in Maine.
In 2016 wind power generated nearly 14% of the state's total electricity.
Former Governor John Baldacci set a goal for the state of 2,000 megawatts of wind power installed by 2015 and 3,000 MW by 2020. While the 2015 goal was not met, wind power still provides Maine with over 10 percent of its generation. Since 2007 windpower generation has increased more than 16 times from 99 GWH generated for 2007 to 1623 GWH for 2016.