Wind Power in Pennsylvania, one of the major source of

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

, it accounts for over one third of the renewable energy production of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. There are more than 27

wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

currently installed in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These 27 farms on average could provide power for nearly 350,000 homes or 1,300 megawatts. A majority of these wind farms are located in the southwest-central and northeastern regions of the state. Pennsylvania is an East Coast leader in wind energy due to its natural wind resources and governmental incentives brought on by the state. There is a lot of potential for growth within the wind power industry in Pennsylvania and the Northeast. Pennsylvania is close to several offshore sites along the coast of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Wind power is also environmentally friendly. Wind power is efficient to create and sustain because it creates 31 times more

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

than it requires during the manufacturing process and over its 20 year lifetime. If all wind energy potential in Pennsylvania was developed with utility-scale

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s, the power produced each year would be enough to supply 6.4% of the state's current

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

consumption.State wind energy fact sheet - Pennsylvania, American Wind Energy Association, Dec. 2011 In 2016 the state had 1369 megawatts (MW) of

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

ed electricity generating capacity, responsible for 1.6% of in-state electricity production. This increased to 1459 MW in 2020.

History

In 2000, state's first commercial wind farm, the Green Mountain Wind Energy Center, was completed in Somerset County, but deactivated in 2015. In 2006, Pennsylvania's

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

ruled that wind turbines and related equipment may not be included in property-tax assessments. Instead, the sites of wind facilities are assessed for their income-capitalization value. In 2007, Montgomery County became the first wind-powered

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the nation, with a two-year commitment to buy 100 percent of its electricity from a combination of wind energy and renewable energy credits derived from wind energy. Voluntary agreements with wind energy companies in Pennsylvania have been signed by The Pennsylvania Game Commission to avoid, minimize, and potentially mitigate any adverse impacts the development and production of wind energy may have on the state's wildlife resources. Many smaller wind farms in Pennsylvania are operated by NextEra Energy Resources, based in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Wind Farms

Location map

Installed capacity and wind resources

There has been advancements in both on and offshore wind power in Pennsylvania. At least 1300 MW of wind power is currently installed at the 27 wind farms in Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. energy information administration, 1 MW of wind power can power about 650 average American homes. Offshore wind power has been proposed on the state's limited shoreline on

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

Pennsylvania Wind Resource Map 80m wind map

Wind generation

Teal background indicates the largest wind generation month for the year. Green background indicates the largest wind generation month to date. Source:Wind Energy in Pennsylvania
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References

External links

Pennsylvania Wind Working GroupPenn Future: Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future
profile on Wind farms in Pennsylvania. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wind Power In Pennsylvania