NM tops nation in wind-energy growth

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | April 17, 2018 | Kevin Robinson-Avila

[CedarDave]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico ranked as the nation’s fastest-growing state for wind-energy construction last year, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy Association.

The state added enough new turbines to produce 571 megawatts of electricity, growing installed capacity by 51 percent to 1.68 gigawatts, according to the association’s 2017 annual market report, released this morning in Santa Fe. That’s enough electricity to power about 422,000 average U.S. homes every year.

And New Mexico could maintain front-running status for another couple of years, with 1.7 GW of new wind construction projects now in the pipelines for installation through 2020, said association spokesman Evan Vaughn.

“New Mexico is poised to double its wind generation in the near term,” Vaughn told the Journal’s editorial board on Monday. “It had the fastest growth rate of any state in the nation in 2017. There’s tremendous momentum underway.”

Nationwide, installed capacity grew by nearly 9 percent last year to nearly 89 GW. That’s enough electricity to power about 27 million homes, representing about 6.3 percent of the country’s total generating capacity.

New Mexico now derives about 13.5 percent of its electricity from wind energy. It’s one of only 14 states where wind turbines provide more than 10 percent of total generation, although some states use much more, with up to 30 percent in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

[Pining_4_TX]

You beat me to it. We don’t need no stinkin’ eagles.

[Neverlift]

I have joked for years that if we put up too many windmills that the wind will slow down. Try it on your favorite tree huggers. With about half of them you can see by the looks on their faces they are struggling with the thought.

[NorthernTraveler]

Actually, thinking about it, the wind pressure on the wind mills might actually speed up the earth’s rotation.

Prevailing winds are out of the NW where I live, the wind is pressing on the wind mills - most of the pressure is converted to rotational energy, but not all, so there is some pressure on the tower itself which is pushing the earth to turn faster.