Design and manufacturing advances, the further results of ongoing research and development programs, and the realization of large production volumes promise to reduce these costs still further to the range of 2.5 to 3.5 cents per kWh over the next ten years. Meanwhile, improvements in rotor aerodynamics and turbine operating modes along with increases in turbine size have boosted the efficiency of wind energy systems in converting energy. Under good wind conditions, modern wind energy systems typically achieve capacity factors of 28 percent or more. Entrepreneurs installed most of the California capacity in response to federal and California state legislation that provided a market 4 and favorable tax incentives that attracted private capital. 5 California s wind industry development also occurred in an era of unusually high energy prices coupled with expectations of higher prices still to come.
More recent installations tend to be smaller projects.
Through a mandated agreement involving the storage of spent nuclear fuel, Northern States Power of Minnesota had installed 125 MW of wind generating capacity by mid 1998 as part of a commitment to install a total capacity of 425 MW by 2002. The agreement mandates installation of a further 400 MW, should wind energy be shown to be in the public interest. While these utility installations are significant, they are small in comparison to the available wind resources in the United States, particularly in the Great Plains. Benefits of Wind Energy Development of wind energy generating capacity can assist utilities and other energy generators in complying with existing regulations and rulings regarding the pollution, emissions, or hazardous materials associated with operating fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants. Depending on the configuration of a given utility s transmission and distribution system, customer demands and avail-able wind resource, wind energy also can provide substantial and quantifiable economic benefits to ratepayers and owners by deferring the need for additional investment to meet demand growth.