Energy policy of the United States
U.S. wind power installed capacity now exceeds 65,000MW. For calendar year 2014, the electricity produced from wind power in the United States amounted to 181.79 terawatt-hours, or 4.44% of all generated electrical energy. Texas is firmly established as the leader in wind power development, followed by Iowa and California.
Wind power
A British Wind Energy Association report gives an average generation cost of onshore wind power of around 3.2 pence (between US 5 and 6 cents) per kW·h (2005). Cost per unit of energy produced was estimated in 2006 to be 5 to 6 percent above the cost of new generating capacity in the US for coal and natural gas: wind cost was estimated at $55.80 per MW·h, coal at $53.10/MW·h and natural gas at $52.50. Similar comparative results with natural gas were obtained in a governmental study in the UK in 2011. In 2011 power from wind turbines could be already cheaper than fossil or nuclear plants; it is also expected that wind power will be the cheapest form of energy generation in the future. The presence of wind energy, even when subsidised, can reduce costs for consumers (€5 billion/yr in Germany) by reducing the marginal price, by minimising the use of expensive peaking power plants.