U.S. operator's wind energy ownership 2016

In the United States, the wind energy operator, NextEra Energy, owned gigawatts of wind power, making it the leading wind energy operator as of 2016. Regulated utilities in the United States only build a small share of wind assets but most prefer to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with independent generators rather than building their own projects. In recent years, the U.S. turbine market has been dominated by just a few original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) which has further supported the trend of consolidation.

Global Wind Power Industry

The total wind power generated worldwide has been increasing substantially year after year since 2001. In 2017, the global cumulative installed wind power capacity amounted to gigawatts. China, the United States, and Germany are the top three wind power producers worldwide. As of 2017, China had installed about gigawatts of wind power cumulatively.

Wind Turbine Market in the United States

The Alta Wind Energy Center in California is the largest wind power project installed in the United States as of 2018. It has the capacity to produce megawatts of wind energy. The second largest U.S. wind power project is the Roscoe Wind Project, based in Texas, with a wind energy capacity of megawatts. Over the last decade, wind energy has become less and less expensive. In 2009, it cost about million U.S. dollars to produce one megawatt of wind energy and by 2019, the price index for wind energy had dropped to U.S. dollars per megawatt.