Recession slows U.S. wind power growth rate

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The United States will add 6,000 megawatts in wind power this year, down nearly 30 percent from last year as the credit crisis slowed expansion of the renewable energy source, an industry group said on Thursday.

Wind power has been one of the fastest growing sources of power generation, and the 2009 additions are equivalent to about six coal-fired power plants.

Globally, the wind power industry will grow about 12 percent this year, said Steve Sawyer, secretary general at the Global Wind Energy Council.

The U.S. wind power additions in 2008 pushed the country ahead of Germany as the world’s leading wind power generator. Still, at 25,000 MW, wind power is only about 1 percent of the U.S. total power supply.

Reuters