The United States has continued to maintain its momentum in the global wind industry market, thanks to its rapid expansion in many parts of the country. Currently, the country has the second-largest wind energy market in the world after China. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) notes that wind power has many regions across the U.S. have intensified their wind energy project efforts in the second quarter of 2019.

This follows last year’s 8% capacity growth, powering 30 million homes last year and delivering a record number of jobs and US$1 billion through state and local taxes. In addition, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported that wind energy project installations represented more than $12 billion of new private investments and an average of nearly $13.6 billion annual wind energy investments in the country since 2006.

According to the U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report, Year Ending 2018, the industry supports 114,000 American jobs, over 500 domestic factories. Moreover, AWEA has reported that the U.S. offshore wind sector is expected to increase installations to a total of 22,000 MW of offshore wind projects by 2030 and 86,000 MW by 2050.

“Wind power’s record-breaking year shows our industry is leading the way to a cleaner, stronger 21st century U.S. economy,” said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan. He added, “America’s least expensive source of new electricity generation is also clean and inexhaustible, which gives our economy an edge in the global marketplace. We’re proud to report the wind industry employs a record number of Americans, supports a robust domestic manufacturing sector with over 500 factories, and contributes over a billion dollars a year to states and rural communities,” according to T&DWorld.

Yahoo! Finance has also noted that wind power development in the U.S. has been “extensively supported by production tax credits over the last few years, including two bills introduced by the U.S. Senate to extend the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for offshore wind energy projects. The introduction of these bills is expected to generate additional infrastructural investments.”