Twenty-two states welcomed the installation of 1,650 windmills in the U.S. last year (2005). It is expected that by 2014 the wind power industry here will quintuple in capacity, with about 6,500 megawatt hours expanding to more than 28,000 megawatt hours. In 2005, wind power was already a $3 billion market. In 2010 that’s expected to increase to a $7.5 billion market. The following are some of the latest trends, advancements, and headlines in this burgeoning industry.

Offshore wind: With 20-odd years of experience with on-land wind energy under our belts, offshore wind energy is fast becoming the industry’s next frontier. Offshore wind turbines, while more expensive to build (for what are probably obvious reasons), promise to generate far more power than windmills built on land because ocean winds blow so much harder than winds on land. The innovation of installing windmills on floating platforms has made the transfer of this technology from land to sea even more viable.

Offshore wind turbines are now being built with capacities in the megawatts (MW) as opposed to their predecessors that could only provide power in the kilowatt (kW) range (and most often, less than 100 kW at that).

Additionally, by being built offshore, wind turbines can now spin faster than they can on land with no nearby “neighbors” having any qualms about the noise. They are also typically more stable than onshore turbines. It is widely projected that in just 10-20 years the offshore wind energy industry could be fully realized.