Wind farm
New installations place the U.S. on a trajectory to generate 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2030 from wind energy. Growth in 2008 channeled some $17 billion into the economy, positioning wind power as one of the leading sources of new power generation in the country, along with natural gas. Wind projects completed in 2008 accounted for about 42% of the entire new power-producing capacity added in the U.S. during the year.
Wind power in the United States
A 2012 report by a clean energy consulting group concluded that new wind farms can produce electric power in the 5-8 cents per kWh range, making wind power cost-competitive with fossil fuels in many areas. As of 2013, the US Energy Information Administration estimates the "levelized cost" of wind energy from new installations as 7 to 10 cents per kWh, depending on the geographic area, but cautioned that levelized costs of non-dispatchable sources such as wind should be compared to the avoided energy cost rather than the levelized cost of dispatchable sources such as natural gas, or baseload sources such as coal or geothermal. In 2015, a Koch-funded institute of Utah State University stated that the cost of wind energy is higher than most cost estimates calculate. Renewable portfolio standards require renewable energy to exist (most of them intermittent such as wind and solar), but at the expense of utilities and consumers.
The production tax credit makes wind power cheaper for utilities and consumers, but at the expense of taxpayers. The American Wind Energy Association has criticized the study of lacking comparison with pollution and subsidies incurred by other electric power sources, and for counting transmission as a cost rather than a benefit.