There are more than twenty wind power projects operating in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The most productive wind energy regions generally fall in mountain or coastal terrains. The northern portion of the Appalachian chain, including most of Southwestern Pennsylvania, is one of the areas with the highest potential for wind energy in the Eastern United States. The mountain ridges of central and northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Poconos in the eastern part of the state, offer some of the best wind resources in the region. If all wind energy potential in Pennsylvania was developed with utility-scale wind turbines, the power produced each year would be enough to supply 6.4% of the state's current electricity consumption. In 2016 the state had 1369 megawatts of wind powered electricitygenerating capacity, responsible for 1.6% of in-state electricity production. This increased to 1459 MW in 2019.
History
In 2006, Pennsylvania's legislature ruled that wind turbines and related equipment may not be included in property-tax assessments. Instead, the sites of wind facilities are assessed for their income-capitalization value. In 2007, Montgomery County became the first wind-powered county in the nation, with a two-year commitment to buy 100 percent of its electricity from a combination of wind energy and renewable energy credits derived from wind energy. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency honored Swarthmore, Pennsylvania as a Green Power Community — the only one in the Eastern United States - for its commitment to buy clean energy generated from wind turbines in mountainous region of western Pennsylvania. In 2012, a coalition of wind farm developers, owner, operators, their supporters, and retail suppliers joined together to form ChoosePAWind. This coalition's goal is to educate Pennsylvanians about the environmental and economic benefits of supplying energy from local wind farms. Many smaller wind farms in Pennsylvania are operated byNextEra Energy Resources, based in Florida.
The graph at left shows the end of year wind generation capacity growth from 2002 through 2018. In a 2010 report, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory stated that Pennsylvania had potential to install up to about 3,300 MW of onshore wind power nameplate capacity at 80m, which would generate enough clean power annually to meet the energy needs of 1,168,000 homes, or 7,200 MW at 100m, capable of generating 21,200 GWh/year. Despite the state's limited shoreline, on Lake Erie, Pennsylvania has the potential to install up to 5,670 MW of offshore wind turbines in an area of, capable of generating 23,571 GWh/year. Offshore wind turbines tend to have a higher capacity factor than onshore wind turbines.
