40,000 new wind turbines by 2015?

US Wind Energy Future

After somewhat of a sluggish start to the wind energy sector in the US, the industry is set for a rapid surge between now and 2015 with an additional 40,000 turbines being constructed, according to a new predictive report out of clean-tech analysis firm Pike Research.

The huge level of interest in green industries, coupled with the financial crisis, has led to wind power receiving large amounts of government funding in an attempt to stimulate employment and the manufacturing industry. Now it looks like the sector will continue to provide excellent financial opportunities in the next several years as the Obama Administration will push wind as the most viable alternative energy. As well as new farms being constructed, older, first-generation turbines are set to be replaced - about 45 percent of turbine sales will be replacements for older models, according to GreenBeat.

But having said that, the market is unlikely to pick up until 2011, when government and private investment starts to fully infiltrate the industry. In the last year, 8 GW-worth of wind turbines have been installed in the US - pushing its total to 25 GW, enough to power as many as eight million homes. Considering this has occurred at the height of one of the worst recessions in living memory, the numbers become even more impressive.

And with the recent completion of the world's largest wind (http://www.nextgenpe.com/news/worlds-largest-wind-farm/) farm in Texas, the future of wind power in the US really does look bright. Even more farms are being planed for the region, where an expected decline in the oil industry could possibly be offset by unlocking the state's wind potential. The only thing stopping wind power progressing as quickly as it should is the lack of suitable power transmission infrastructure.

However, once transmission problems are solved in Texas and elsewhere, wind should grow that much faster.

In the past month, the Treasury Department has given out over $1 billion in cash awards to 27 clean energy companies, with the vast majority of them going to wind operations. Solar and biofuel companies came in a distant second and third.

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