Kansas grabbed a lot of the headlines in this week’s release of the first quarter 2017 Market report from the American Wind Energy Association.
The report showed Kansas finished behind only Texas in new wind installations during the quarter. Nearly 500 MW of new in-state capacity came online and the state will soon top 5,000 MW.
Oklahoma recorded no additions of new wind power during the first three months of the year. Its installed wind power capacity remains at 6,645 MW compared to the 4,931 MW in Kansas. Texas is still largest with 21,044 MW. Iowa is second with 6,952 MW so Oklahoma isn’t far behind.
Four of the wind-energy companies that developed new wind farms in other states have built wind projects in Oklahoma. They include Enel Green Power North America, NextEra Energy Resources, Infinity Wind Power and Apex Clean Energy.
The same report from the AWEA showed a 385% increase nationally in installation of wind capacity from the first quarter of 2016. It was also the second strongest first-quarter on record. The installation of 2,000 megawatts of new capacity online during the three months meant the U.S. now has enough installed wind capacity to power 25 million American homes.
During the time period, the addition of North Carolina as the 41st state with wind power brought U.S. installed wind power capacity to 84,143 MW.