A record 16,836 megawatts (MW) of U.S. wind capacity was installed in 2020, bringing the cumulative total to 121,955 MW.
Texas had the most 2020 installed wind power at 4,137 MW, Iowa ranked second at 1,215 MW and Oklahoma was third at 1,162 MW. Wyoming and Illinois finished out the top five states according to the report.
Wind power installations outpaced those in solar power for the first time in several years and represented $24.6 billion of investment. Wind provides more than 10% of electricity in 16 states, and over 30% in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Improvements in the cost and performance of wind power technologies, along with the Production Tax Credit, have driven wind energy capacity additions, yielding low-priced wind energy. Wind turbines continued to grow in size and power, with the average nameplate capacity of newly installed wind turbines at 2.75 MW—up 8% from 2019 and 284% since 1998−1999.
The combined health, climate, and grid-system benefits of wind are almost 3 times its levelized cost of energy.
Source: DOE