WIND ENERGY

From mid 1998 through 1999, a record 925 megawatts of wind-generation capacity were installed in the U.S., according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Washington, D.C.  The gains boost worldwide generating capacity to 13,400 megawatts. The association credits this remarkable gain in the U.S., to wind energy generation tax credit, deregulation of the electric industry and the effectiveness of wind power. The cost of generating wind power has decreased sharply from 38 cents per kilowatt-hour in the middle -1980s to as low as 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour today, making it competitive with coal and gas.

Though Denmark leads in the worldwide wind-power generation, AWEA reports that the biggest wind farms in the world were installed this year in the U.S., at Storm Lake, IA, and Lake Benton, MN. New wind projects are currently under development in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Massachusetts.