How much of the U.S. electricity supply comes from wind and how does that compare with other countries?

Last Updated: October 2, 2014

The United States leads all other countries in the amount of electricity generated by wind, a title it has held since 2008. U.S. wind power totaled nearly 168 million megawatthours during 2013, about three times more than the wind power generated in the United States in 2008. The top five global producers of electricity from wind also include China, Spain, Germany, and India.

Why wind power has increased

A major contributor to increasing U.S. wind power in recent years has been the federal production tax credit. This tax credit pays producers 2.3 cents for every kilowatthour of electricity they generate from wind during the first 10 years a turbine is in operation. The current version of the tax credit allows producers to earn the credit as long as they began construction of their wind power projects during 2013 and, in general, as long as the turbines begin operating by 2016. The amount of U.S. electricity generated from wind has also increased because of state governments' renewable portfolio standards that require a percentage of their states' electricity supply to come from wind power and other renewable energy sources.

Electricity generated from wind is expected to continue growing

The amount of electricity generated from wind in the United States is expected to continue to grow. EIA projects U.S. wind power generation will increase by an average of 1.3% a year through 2040.

While solar energy is expected to be the fastest-growing source of renewable electricity generation in the United States, growing at a rate of 7.5% annually from 2012–2040, wind power will account for the largest absolute increase among sources of renewable energy used for electricity generation.

U.S. wind generation capacity is expected to increase from less than 60 Gigawatts (GW) in 2012 to 85 GW in 2040. One GW of wind power capacity can provide enough electricity for between 750,000 and 1 million U.S. homes, depending on the house size, location, and time of day. Wind is expected to be the top source of nonhydropower renewable electricity generation capacity additions during 2012–2040, and wind is expected to surpass hydropower's share of total U.S. generation capacity in 2036.

U.S. states leading in electricity generated from wind

In 2013, EIA data shows that 39 states had some electricity generation from wind facilities with a generation capacity of at least 1 megawatt. Among those, 23 states increased their electricity generation from wind by more than 10% above their 2012 production levels.

In 2013, the five states that generated the most electricity from wind were:

Texas (35.9 million megawatthours) Iowa (15.6 million megawatthours) California (13.2 million megawatthours) Oklahoma (10.9 million megawatthours) Illinois (9.6 million megawatthours)

However, the five states that had the largest share of their total electricity generation from wind in 2013 were:

Iowa (27.4%) South Dakota (26%) Kansas (19.4%) Idaho (16.2%) Minnesota (15.7%)

In 2013, wind accounted for 4.1 % of the electricity generated in the United States. States that produced twice that amount of electricity from wind in 2013 include North Dakota, Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon, Wyoming, and Texas.

Wind power plays a larger role in other countries

While the United States is the world's largest total producer of electricity from wind, only 4.1% of total U.S. electricity generation was from wind in 2013. Other countries, particularly those in Europe, generate a larger share of their electricity from wind. In 2012 (the latest year for which EIA has international electricity data available), the countries that had the largest portion of their electricity generation from wind were:

Denmark (34%) Portugal (23%) Spain (18%) Ireland (16%) Germany (8%)

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