Quadrennial Technology Review 2015: Advancing Clean Electric Power Technologies--Wind Power

Wind power has become a mainstream power source in the U.S. electricity portfolio, supplying 4.9% of the nation’s electricity demand in 2014. With more than 65 GW installed across 39 states at the end of 2014, utility-scale wind power is a cost-effective source of low-emissions power generation throughout much of the nation. The United States has significant sustainable land-based and offshore wind resource potential, greater than 10 times current total U.S. electricity consumption. A technical wind resource assessment conducted by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2009 estimated that the land-based wind energy potential for the contiguous United States is equivalent to 10,500 GW capacity at 80 meters (m) hub and 12,000 GW capacity at 100 meters (m) hub heights, assuming a capacity factor of at least 30%. A subsequent 2010 DOE report estimated the technical offshore wind energy potential to be 4,150 GW. The estimate was calculated from the total offshore area within 50 nautical miles of shore in areas where average annual wind speeds are at least 7 m per second at a hub height of 90 m. 

Author(s) Sam Baldwin, Gilbert Bindewald, Austin Brown, Charles Chen, Kerry Cheung, Corrie Clark, Joe Cresko, Matt Crozat, Jarad Daniels, Jae Edmonds, Paul Friley, Jeff Greenblatt, Zia Haq, Kristen Honey, Marcos Huerta, Ziga Ivanic, William Joost, Akhlesh Kaushiva, Henry Kelly, Dan King, Adam Kinney, Michael Kuperberg, Alex Larzelere, Heather Liddell, Steve Lindenberg, Michael Martin, Colin McMillan, Elena Melchert, Josh Mengers, Eric Miller, James Miller, George Muntean, Pat Phelan, Charles Russomanno, Ridah Sabouni, Ann Satsangi, Andrew Schwartz, Dev Shenoy, A.J. Simon, Gurpreet Singh, Emmanuel Taylor, Jake Ward, Bradley Williams