The amount of wind power that the United States can generate has doubled to more than 20 gigawatts in the last two years, the American Wind Energy Association said Wednesday.

Renewable-energy policies, such as state mandates that require utilities to get a certain amount of their energy from renewable sources, have helped drive the growth of U.S. wind from 10 gigawatts in 2006.

The wind association, also known as AWEA, attributes part of the success of wind specifically to its lower production cost compared with other renewables, such as solar power.

Earlier this year, the association said the United States had passed Germany as the world’s biggest wind-energy generator (see The Week: Plugging Into Renewable Energy). Germany still wears the crown for having the most installed wind-power capacity, but the United States generated more wind power due to stronger winds.

AWEA expects the U.S. wind industry to reach a total capacity of about 24.3 gigawatts by the year’s end.

Such expansion would mark wind as one of the fastest-growing electricity sources in the nation, second only to natural gas, in terms of production capacity. Wind made up 35 percent of the total electricity capacity installed in 2007, according to AWEA.

GROWTH SEEN IN COMING 12 YEARS

The Vestas’ head said he believes that growth within the
wind energy sector will be marked in the coming 12 years.

“When using the IEA (International Energy Agency) forecasts
then we believe that in 2020 wind energy will cover around 10
percent of the world’s energy consumption – and that is in a
strongly growing, consuming market,” he said.

Regardless of whether oil prices are rising or falling there
will be an increasing need for energy in coming years, Engel
said, driven in particular by the so-called BRIC-countries –
Brazil, Russia, India and China – as the world’s population
continues to grow.

“So the underlying need for energy is there,” says Engel.

And with climate challenges increasing the need for more
renewable energy solutions, wind power may well be one of the
winners.

According to Engel wind energy has already been around for
many years and is by now well-documented as an energy source.

Not just in Denmark, where wind energy accounts for almost
20 percent of domestic power supply, but also in bigger
countries such as Germany and Spain where the share of wind
energy is now quite significant, he says.

“But I still think it is important to stress that we do not
see ourselves as being the opposition to other renewables such
as solar energy, geo-thermal,” he said.
(Editing by Sami Aboudi)