Wind power in Washington (state)

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Wind Turbines above Walla Walla River in Washington

At the end of 2014, the installed capacity for wind power in Washington was 3,075 megawatts (MW) with wind power accounting for 6% of the electricity generated in the state during 2014.[1] The state ranks among the top ten in terms of cumulative wind capacity.

State legislative support

Wind resource map at 50 m above ground

Initiative 937 requires electric utilities with 25,000 or more customers to have 15 percent of their power supply generated from renewable resources by 2020. Washington state has sales tax exemptions for wind energy. Washington state provides utility grants, loans and rebates for wind power.[2]

Notable projects

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Wind Farm Northeast of Walla Walla, Washington
Name Location Capacity (MW) Status Ref
Windy Point Wind Farm Klickitat County 400 Operational [3]
Wild Horse Wind Farm Kittitas County 273 Operational [3]
Marengo Wind Farm Columbia County 211 Operational [3]
White Creek Wind Farm Klickitat County 205 Operational [3]
Big Horn Wind Farm Klickitat County 200 Operational [3]
Stateline Wind Farm Walla Walla County 177 Operational [3]
Hopkins Ridge Wind Farm Columbia County 385 Operational [4]
Lower Snake River Wind Project Garfield County 342.7 Operational [3]
Tucannon River Wind Farm Dayton 267 Operational [5]

Potential capacity

While originally estimated to have nearly 4,000 megawatts of potential onshore capacity by the American Wind Energy Association, a comprehensive update of the wind energy potential by state released in 2010 by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showed that Washington has potential to install over 18,000 megawatts of onshore wind power.[6]

Washington ranks 24th in its potential for onshore wind generation,[7] but has the potential to install 120,964 MW of offshore wind farms, capable of generating 488,025 GWh/year.[8]

Installed

Installed wind power capacity in Washington has seen strong growth in recent years and Washington now ranks among the top ten states with the most wind power installed. Wind power accounted for 5.3% of total electricity generated in Washington during 2011.[9]

The table below shows the growth in wind power installed nameplate capacity in MW for Washington since 1999.[10]

Washington's wind power generating capacity has been steadily increasing since 2005.

Statistics

Wind power in Washington
Year Capacity
(MW)[11]
Generation
(GWh)
Generation
(% of total)
2000 0
2001 180
2002 228
2003 244
2004 241
2005 390
2006 818
2007 1,163
2008 1,375
2009 1,849 3,572 3.4%
2010[12] 2,104 4,652 4.6%
2011[13] 2,573 6,209 5.3%
2012[14] 2,808 6,688 5.8%
2013[15] 2,808 7,008 6.2%
2014[16] 3,075 7,264 6.3%

See also

References

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  4. Hopkins Ridge
  5. | Tucanon River Wind Farm
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  8. Renewable Energy Technical Potential
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External links