Commercial, Distributed Generation, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  February 23, 2016

The wind is blowing toward corporate buyers big time, AWEA says

The American Wind Energy Association's fourth-quarter 2015 market report, released in January, revealed that about 75% of the megawatts contracted through power purchase agreements in the period were through corporations, including Procter & Gamble, General Motors and Google Energy. Extension of the federal production tax credit for wind projects should help ensure the trend continues this year, the trade association said. 

Other key takeaways from the report include:

• Utilities actively continued to buy wind, with more than 2,300 MW of installations during the fourth quarter attached to utility PPA contracts.
• Companies completed a total of 3,733 MW in project acquisitions during 2015. SunEdison Inc. led in these acquisitions with 1,273 MW.
• Iowa is now ranked second in the nation with more than 6,000 MW of installed capacity. Oklahoma now has over 5,000 MW, and North Dakota has more than 2,000 MW.
• Texas continues to lead the nation with more than 17,700 MW of installed capacity, more than twice the installed capacity of any other state.

AWEA will host a webinar Feb. 25 to discuss the report in more detail.  To register for the webinar, "Corporate Renewables Procurement: America’s New Leading Source of Demand for Wind Power," head to AWEA's website. 

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