Strong winds forecast to bring low-cost energy and good-paying jobs

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released three 2023 annual reports showing that wind power is one of the fastest growing and lowest cost sources of electricity in America and is poised for rapid growth. DOE reports that wind energy provided 10% of total electricity nationwide with wind making up more than 60% of Iowa’s power and over 40% in Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. New utility-scale land-based wind generation capacity added in 2022 was the equivalent of powering 2.5 million American homes. Offshore wind energy projects under development and currently operating could power over 18 million American homes.

The Land-Based Wind Market Report, prepared by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, details the 8,511 MW of new utility-scale land-based wind generation capacity added in 2022. This is the equivalent of powering 2.5 million American homes. Key findings from the report include:

• Wind energy provided 10% of total electricity nationwide, more than 60% of power in Iowa, and over 40% of power in South Dakota, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
• 14 states installed new utility-scale land-based wind turbines in 2022. Texas installed the most capacity almost half of the national total, with 4,028 megawats (MW). Other leading states included Oklahoma and Nebraska, which each adding more than 600 MW of capacity in 2022.
• For the first time, non-utility buyers are purchasing more wind than utilities. Direct retail purchasers of wind buy electricity from at least 44% of the new wind capacity installed in 2022.
• Wind turbines continue to grow in size and power, contributing to competitive costs and prices. The average capacity of newly installed wind turbines grew 7% from 2021 to 2022, to 3.2 MW.
• The estimated benefits for 2022’s wind projects outweigh the costs by five times.

The Offshore Wind Market Report, prepared by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, shows continued progress toward advancing offshore wind to promote good-paying domestic jobs and provide clean energy.

This report found that the capacity of U.S. offshore wind energy projects under development and currently operating increased 15% from the previous year to 52,687 MW. This increase would be enough to power over 18 million American homes. The report also found:

• In 2022, the domestic offshore wind industry invested $2.7 billion in ports, vessels, supply chain, and transmission.
• Offshore wind planning expanded beyond the north and mid-Atlantic to include areas off the coast of California. There are also plans to auction three new wind energy areas for the first time in the Gulf of Mexico. 
• New Jersey and New York have the highest combined energy capacity in the U.S. offshore wind energy pipeline, with more than 20,000 MW.
• State policies across 13 states aim to procure 112,286 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2050.
• New York, New Jersey, New England, and California are integrating offshore wind energy into long-term state grid planning.  

The Distributed Wind Market Report, prepared by DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, reports the addition of 1,755 distributed wind turbines across 13 states in 2022. Distributed wind turbines, which serve on-site energy demand or support operation of local electricity distribution networks, total 29.5 MW of new capacity and represent $84 million in new investment in 2022. Key findings from the report include:

• Cumulative U.S. distributed wind capacity stands at 1,104 MW from over 90,000 wind turbines across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
• Iowa, California, and Nebraska led the United States in distributed wind capacity additions in 2022, with two large-scale distributed wind projects in Iowa and one large project each in California and Nebraska.
• For small wind capacity additions, defined as turbines up to 100 kilowatts in size, Minnesota led the nation again in 2022. This increase is largely attributed to a continued push to sell small wind turbines to agricultural markets as a decarbonization solution.

The three market reports, including supporting blogs and infographics, are available on DOE's website.

The graph below compares the rate of the addition of new wind energy capacity as compared to the addition of other forms of energy from 2000 through 2022. The capacity additions are shown in gigawatts (GW).