US Falling Behind in Wind Energy

In the early 1980s, fully 95% of the world’s wind energy generating capacity was located in the United States. Today, that share has dropped to 22%, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy: about 1,620 megawatts (MW), down from a high of 1,823 MW in 1992.

The early wind power development in the U.S., most of which was located in California, was made possible by the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA), which was passed in 1978, and by very favorable federal and state investment tax credits. In the early 1980s, investment tax credits in California amounted to 50% to 55% of the total investment. However, since the late 1980s, according to an article by Louise Guey-Lee of EIA that will be published in early 1999 in