Department of Energy Releases New Estimates of Nation’s Wind Energy Potential for wind-generated electricity, tripling previous estimates of the size of the nation’s wind resources. The new study, which was carried out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and AWS Truewind, finds that the contiguous 48 states have the potential to generate up to 37 million gigawatt hours annually. By contrast, total U.S. electricity generation from all sources was roughly 4 million gigawatt hours in 2009. The estimates show the total energy yield that could be generated using current wind turbine technology on the nation’s windy lands. (The estimates show what is possible, not what will actually be developed.)
Along with the state-by-state estimates of wind energy potential, NREL and AWS Truewind have developed wind resource maps for the United States and for the contiguous 48 states that show the predicted average wind speeds at an 80-meter height.
Click on a state to view individual state maps. Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not have 80-meter wind maps available but have 50-meter wind maps.
More alerts for the month of Feburuary (good month for DOE 😉
- DOE Webinar March 18, 2010: Getting to Net Zero Today Through a Performance-Based Design/Build Process
- Department of Energy Releases Report on Potential Environmental Effects of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technologies
- DOE Guides Data Centers in Standardizing Their Energy Efficiency Metrics
- Geothermal Technologies Program Database Details More Than 170 Projects
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