IN near top in U.S. wind development

INDIANAPOLIS (WANE) - For the second year in a row, Indiana has ranked at or near the top of a national survey tracking the installation of large scale wind developments in the United States in 2009. In the last two years, Indiana has gone from 50th to 13th among wind-producing states.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Indiana installed 905 Megawatts (MW) of wind power in 2009. That puts Indiana second only to Texas for the year. In 2008, Indiana was singled out by AWEA as having the fastest wind power growth in the U.S.

“The business-friendly environment we’ve created is leading to success for more renewable energy installations in Indiana,” said Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, who oversees the Office of Energy Development (OED). “Low costs, low regulation, and local government sophistication regarding wind power issues has kept development levels increasing.”

The AWEA Year End Market report for 2009 shows a total of some 10,000 MW of wind power was installed during the year, bringing the total amount of wind power in the United States to 35,000 MW. Indiana’s 905 MW increase was second to Texas, where nearly 2,300 MW became operational.

The full AWEA report is available at http://www.awea.org/publications/reports/4Q09.pdf .

Indiana has five privately developed wind farms in operation generating over 1,000 MW of wind power. A sixth facility is under construction, and a number of other wind farms are proposed. It is projected that there could be approximately 3,000 MW of wind power in operation in Indiana by 2013. 1 MW of electricity is enough to power 300-500 Hoosier homes. In addition to the farms themselves, 11 Hoosier companies manufacture wind turbine components. These companies employ 1,000 Hoosier workers. That number is expected to jump by at least 500 in 2010.

“Wind power is just one facet of Indiana’s energy portfolio,” said OED Director Brandon Seitz. “We continue to add alternative and renewable fuel projects and facilities including wind, solar, biomass and clean coal.”