Washington (Platts)--13Apr2009

While Texas still leads the nation in wind generating capacity, Iowa has
passed California for the number two post, with 2,791 MW of capacity
installed, compared with 2,517 MW for California, the American Wind Energy
Association said late Sunday.

Giving a summary of 2008 activities, AWEA said both Minnesota and Iowa
now get more than 7% of their power needs from wind generation.

The top five states in terms of installed wind capacity are Texas, with
7,118 MW, Iowa, California, Minnesota, with 1,754 MW, and Washington, with
1,447 MW. Oregon also moved into the states with more than 1,000 MW of
capacity, joining the top five and Colorado, AWEA said.

Besides gains in wind generation installations, 24 states saw new wind
turbine and component manufacturing facilities opened, expanded or announced
in 2008, AWEA said. The manufacturing growth included wind turbine and turbine
component manufacturers adding or expanding more than 55 facilities in 2008,
the group said.

In company rankings, NextEra Energy Resources, formerly FPL Energy,
continues to lead in wind project ownership, while GE Energy remained the wind
turbine manufacturer with the most capacity installed. Xcel Energy is the top
investor-owned utility with wind power installed, AWEA said.