The U.S. Department of Energy has determined that
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
has significant
wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...
development opportunities, with a potential of 69 gigawatts. As of the start of 2020, there were 376
wind turbines
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. Wi ...
in operation in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
with a
generating capacity of 686 megawatts (MW) and responsible for 2.7% of in-state electricity production. An additional 56 MW was under construction.
The state, a major
coal producer, passed
renewable portfolio standard legislation in 2009, but repealed it in 2015.
Statistics
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, +West Virginia Wind Generation Capacity by Year
, -
,
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color:pink width:20
bar:2001 from:start till:0 text:0
bar:2002 from:start till:66 text:66
bar:2003 from:start till:66 text:66
bar:2004 from:start till:66 text:66
bar:2005 from:start till:66 text:66
bar:2006 from:start till:66 text:66
bar:2007 from:start till:146 text:146
bar:2008 from:start till:330 text:330
bar:2009 from:start till:330 text:330
bar:2010 from:start till:430.5 text:430.5
bar:2011 from:start till:564 text:564
bar:2012 from:start till:583 text:583
bar:2013 from:start till:583 text:583
bar:2014 from:start till:583 text:583
bar:2015 from:start till:583 text:583
bar:2016 from:start till:686 text:686
bar:2017 from:start till:686 text:686
bar:2018 from:start till:686 text:686
bar:2019 from:start till:686 text:686
bar:2020 from:start till:742 text:742
bar:2021 from:start till:742 text:859
bar:2022 from:start till:742 text:859
bar:2023 from:start till:742 text:859
Source:
{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"
! colspan="14" style="background:#cfb;", West Virginia Wind Generation (GWh, Million kWh)
, -
! style="background:#cfb;", Year
! style="background:#cfb;", Total
! style="background:#cfb;", Jan
! style="background:#cfb;", Feb
! style="background:#cfb;", Mar
! style="background:#cfb;", Apr
! style="background:#cfb;", May
! style="background:#cfb;", Jun
! style="background:#cfb;", Jul
! style="background:#cfb;", Aug
! style="background:#cfb;", Sep
! style="background:#cfb;", Oct
! style="background:#cfb;", Nov
! style="background:#cfb;", Dec
, -align=right
, 2002, , 9 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 9
, -align=right
, 2003, , 171 , , 16 , , 15 , , 17 , , 17 , , 14 , , 10 , , 11 , , 4 , , 12 , , 16 , , 19 , , 20
, -align=right
, 2004, , 160 , , 24 , , 17 , , 18 , , 16 , , 12 , , 8 , , 8 , , 4 , , 9 , , 10 , , 15 , , 19
, -align=right
, 2005, , 154 , , 14 , , 15 , , 17 , , 16 , , 11 , , 9 , , 5 , , 7 , , 8 , , 12 , , 18 , , 22
, -align=right
, 2006, , 173 , , 24 , , 23 , , 16 , , 13 , , 13 , , 6 , , 8 , , 7 , , 10 , , 19 , , 11 , , 23
, -align=right
, 2007, , 166 , , 22 , , 20 , , 17 , , 19 , , 9 , , 7 , , 7 , , 5 , , 6 , , 13 , , 19 , , 22
, -align=right
, 2008, , 393 , , 22 , , 19 , , 25 , , 20 , , 20 , , 26 , , 19 , , 22 , , 24 , , 56 , , 68 , , 72
, -align=right
, 2009, , 744 , , 86 , , 86 , , 69 , , 71 , , 31 , , 49 , , 49 , , 32 , , 46 , , 71 , , 68 , , 86
, -align=right
, 2010, , 940 , , 92 , , 79 , , 85 , , 86 , , 66 , , 69 , , 49 , , 33 , , 66 , , 114 , , 89 , , 112
, -align=right
, 2011, , 1,103 , , 102 , , 113 , , 112 , , 114 , , 49 , , 62 , , 45 , , 68 , , 60 , , 122 , , 124 , , 132
, -align=right
, 2012, , 1,285 , , 201 , , 147 , , 136 , , 130 , , 59 , , 90 , , 85 , , 41 , , 65 , , 98 , , 100 , , 133
, -align=right
, 2013, , 1,386 , , 175 , , 154 , , 174 , , 140 , , 134 , , 78 , , 55 , , 58 , , 51 , , 58 , , 157 , , 152
, -align=right
, 2014, , 1,451 , , 166 , , 146 , , 167 , , 143 , , 100 , , 62 , , 76 , , 64 , , 67 , , 154 , , 157 , , 149
, -align=right
, 2015, , 1,376 , , 158 , , 137 , , 181 , , 137 , , 75 , , 103 , , 65 , , 44 , , 71 , , 122 , , 147 , , 136
, -align=right
, 2016 , , 1,430 , , 166 , , 164 , , 134 , , 120 , , 74 , , 92 , , 69 , , 57 , , 67 , , 130 , , 135 , , 222
, -align=right
, 2017 , , 1,683 , , 149 , , 137 , , 183 , , 174 , , 162 , , 132 , , 103 , , 77 , , 103 , , 147 , , 153 , , 163
, -align=right
, 2018 , , 1,771 , , 185 , , 160 , , 181 , , 181 , , 146 , , 144 , , 88 , , 110 , , 106 , , 147 , , 158 , , 165
, -align=right
, 2019 , , 1,632 , , 157 , , 133 , , 145 , , 165 , , 146 , , 133 , , 101 , , 92 , , 112 , , 147 , , 145 , , 156
, -align=right
, 2020 , , 1,899 , , 201 , , 185 , , 181 , , 206 , , 205 , , 121 , , 72 , , 92 , , 88 , , 139 , , 196 , , 213
, -align=right
, 2021 , , 1,623 , , 197 , , 129 , , 205 , , 170 , , 106 , , 84 , , 82 , , 59 , , 112 , , 139 , , 133 , , 207
, -align=right
, 2022 , , 2,028 , , 170 , , 203 , , 244 , , 217 , , 140 , , 122 , , 110 , , 88 , , 147 , , 184 , , 240 , , 163
, -align=right
, 2023 , , 2087 , , 247 , , 253 , , 245 , , 166 , , 140 , , 134 , , 108 , , 120 , , 80 , , 163 , , 206 , , 226
, -align=right
, 2024 , , 405 , , 228 , , 177 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
, -align=right
Source:
List of wind farms
*
Beech Ridge Wind Farm
The Beech Ridge Wind Farm in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, is a 100 MW generating facility with 67 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines. The tall wind turbines, are placed along Shellcamp, Smokehouse, Beech, Rockcamp and Big ridges and Cold Knob, Old Fiel ...
*
Mount Storm Wind Farm
The Mount Storm Wind Farm is located 120 miles west of Washington, D.C. in Grant County, West Virginia. The wind farm includes 132 Gamesa G80 wind turbines each with a two megawatt (MW) capacity along 12 miles of the Allegheny Front. Constructi ...
- The 264-megawatt wind farm in Grant County consists of 132 turbines along 12 miles of the
Allegheny Front
The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and western Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front forms the boundary between the ...
.
*
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center is a wind farm on Backbone Mountain in Preston and Tucker counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. When it came online in December 2002, Mountaineer was the first wind farm in West Virginia, and the largest east ...
See also
*
Solar power in West Virginia
*
Wind power in the United States
Wind power is a branch of the energy industry that has expanded quickly in the United States over the last several years. From January through December 2021, 379.8 terawatt-hours were generated by wind power, or 9.23% of electricity in the ...
*
Renewable energy in the United States
According to preliminary data from the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy accounted for about 12.6% of total primary energy consumption and about 19.8% of the domestically produced electricity in the United States in 202 ...
References
External links
{{Wind power in the United States