WIND ENERGY FAST FACTS Wind…

                                       WIND ENERGY FAST FACTS

Wind energy generating capacity installed, U.S.: 16,818 MW (end of 2007)1.

Wind energy generating capacity, worldwide: 94,112 MW (end of 2007, Global Wind Energy
Council).

Electricity generated from wind, U.S: An estimated 48 billion kWh in 20082 (just over 1% of
U.S. electricity supply), enough to serve the equivalent of 4.5 million average U.S.
households.

Amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted if that amount of power were generated from the
average U.S. electricity fuel mix: 29 million tons, according to the U.S. Energy Information
Agency. Over 17,000 square miles of forest would be needed to absorb that much CO2.
Carbon dioxide is the leading gas associated with global warming.

    Leading states in capacity installed, U.S.:                  Largest wind farms, operating, U.S.:
    # 1 ­ Texas                  4.356 MW                        # 1 ­ Horse Hollow, Texas                           736 MW
    # 2 ­ California             2,439 MW                        # 2 ­ Sweetwater. Texas                             585 MW
    # 3 ­ Minnesota              1,299 MW                        # 3 ­ Peetz Table, Colorado                         401 MW
    # 4 ­ Iowa                   1,273 MW                        # 4 ­ Capricorn Ridge, Texas                        364 MW
    # 5 ­ Washington             1,163 MW                        # 5 ­ Buffalo Gap, Texas                            351 MW
    (as of 12/31/2007)                                           (as of 12/31/2007)


U.S. wind energy potential: Estimated at 10,777 billion kWh annually--more than twice the
electricity generated in the U.S. today (Source: Pacific Northwest Laboratory).

Industry growth rate, U.S.: 29% average over last five years (year-end 2002 ­ 2007).

Average American homes served by one megawatt of wind capacity: 250-300.

"Double cropping" benefit for rural communities: A single, utility-scale wind turbine provides
$3,000/year per megawatt or more in income to a landowner leasing his wind rights.
Farmers continue to grow crops up to the base of the turbines located on their land.

Operating characteristics of a wind turbine: A wind turbine runs 60% to 80% of the time, and
operates at its full rated power output level 10% of the time. On an average day, it generates
30% to 35% of what it would generate if it ran at full power all the time.3

Efficiency characteristics of a wind turbine: Wind has one of the highest energy payback
ratios of any power technology. Energy Payback Ratios (EPR) compare the amount of
energy produced by a power plant to the amount of energy it takes to build, run, and
eventually decommission that plant. The more efficient the technology, the higher the EPR.4

1
  Source for data is AWEA unless otherwise indicated.
2
  Using an estimated capacity factor of 33%
3
  Note: This characteristic is a function of economic design. It would be possible but inefficient and more costly to design wind
turbines with a very small generator and large blades resulting in a high "capacity factor" but feeble electricity production).
4
  Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.