FUTURE OF WIND ENERGY IN THE UNITED STATES
The U.S wind energy generating capacity is rapidly increasing. In 1989 it was about 1400MWe and by 2003 it had grown to 6400 MWe. Since 2000, wind energy generating capacity has grown nearly by 25% each year. An important factor in the remarkable growth of wind energy has been the ability of the utilities to fund renewable projects, mainly wind energy, by charging the increasing costs to voluntary program subscribers. At least 350 utilities in 33 states now have announced or implemented “green pricing programs. More than 6% customer participation has been achieved by some utilities, but the average is about 1% (Ristinen et al., 2006).
In the near future, wind energy will be the most cost effective source of electrical power. In fact, a good case can be made for saying that it already has achieved this status. The actual life cycle cost of fossil fuels (from mining and extraction to transport to use technology to environmental impact to political costs and impacts, etc.) is not really known, but it is certainly far more than the current wholesale rates. The eventual depletion of these energy sources will entail rapid escalations in price which -- averaged over the brief period of their use -- will result in postponed actual costs that would be unacceptable by present standards. And this doesn't even consider the environmental and political costs of fossil fuels use that are silently and not-so-silently mounting every day.
The major technology developments enabling wind power commercialization have already been made. There will be infinite refinements and improvements, of course. One can guess (based on experience with other technologies) that the eventual push to full commercialization and deployment of the technology will happen in a manner that no one can imagine today. There will be a "weather change" in the marketplace, or a "killer application" somewhere that will put several key companies or financial organizations in a position to profit. They will take advantage of public interest, the political and economic climate, and emotional or marketing factors to position wind energy technology (developed in a long lineage from the Chinese and the Persians to the present wind energy researchers and developers) for its next round of development (Dodge, G.M. 2007).