U.S. Wind Generating Capacity Added · Annual (GW)

## What this measures

The nameplate capacity, in gigawatts, of onshore and offshore wind turbines generators that entered commercial service in the United States (50 states and DC) in each calendar year, from 2001. Only complete years are published: a year appears once EIA's December workbook is out.

## Why it matters

Yearly additions show how fast the U.S. is building new power supply, and which technologies carry it, at a time when data center demand is pushing utilities to add capacity faster than they have in decades.

## How to read it

Higher means more capacity came online that year. Compare fuels: a gigawatt of solar produces far less electricity in a year than a gigawatt of gas or nuclear. Read with the monthly series (energy.capacity_added_mw.us.wind) for the year in progress and the planned pipeline for the next two years.

## What it does not say

Nameplate capacity is rated maximum output, not generation. It counts plants of 1 MW or more, not rooftop solar, and does not net out retirements. Totals can differ from EIA's published annual figures, which are often in net summer capacity and come from the final annual survey. Recent years can still rise as late reports arrive. Puerto Rico is excluded.

## How it's built

Monthly additions (energy.capacity_added_mw.us.wind) summed by calendar year and converted to gigawatts. Fuel groups follow EIA's technology field: solar ("Solar Photovoltaic" and solar thermal), wind (onshore and offshore wind turbines), battery ("Batteries"), gas (every technology naming natural gas), nuclear, and other (everything else, including hydro, pumped storage, coal, oil, geothermal, biomass, waste and flywheels).

## Source

U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m). Public domain. Refreshed weekly.