Texas Surpasses California in Wind-Energy Usage

Sept. 1, 2006
With the U.S. wind energy industry on pace for another record year, Texas for the first time surpassed the historic leader, California, as the top state

With the U.S. wind energy industry on pace for another record year, Texas for the first time surpassed the historic leader, California, as the top state in cumulative wind power capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA) second-quarter market report.

The report also shows that U.S. developers brought online a capacity total of 822mW in the first half of the year. With such strong growth, U.S. cumulative wind-power capacity surged to 9,971mW — within close striking distance of the 10-gigawatt (10,000mW) milestone.

Texas' cumulative total now stands at 2,370mW of capacity — enough to power more than 600,000 average American homes — with California at 2,323mW. Texas edged ahead of California by adding a total of 375mW, about half of the total amount installed in the country since the beginning of the year.