Wind power capacity in the United States continued to experience strong growth in 2017 due to the production tax credit, various state-level policies, and improvements in the cost and performance of wind power technologies, yielding low-priced wind energy for utility, corporate, and other power purchasers.
The top 4 wind market industry trends of 2017:
1. Improved wind turbine performance
The average capacity factor, which is a measure of how close a plant is operating to its maximum output, among projects built from 2014 to 2016 was 42%, compared to an average of 31.5% among projects built from 2004 to 2011. This represents a 33% increase since 2004–2011 and a 79% increase since 1998–2001.