Apr 30 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Matthew Preusch The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.


Oregon ranks sixth among states for the amount of installed wind power.

And the state is now one of nine with more than 1,000 megawatts of wind energy in place, according to the American Wind Energy Association. One megawatt of wind power is about enough to power 200 homes.

Another 1,000 megawatts are under construction in the state, and yet another 1,000 megawatts of potential projects are under review, said Lou Torres, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Energy.

"We could be looking at almost tripling the amount of wind energy in the next few years," Torres said.

The state's ranking comes from the most recent quarterly report of the nation's top wind energy trade group.

The association said the amount of the new wind power installed in the first quarter of this year is twice what went up during the same period last year, and the total wind power generating capacity in operation in the United States is now 28,206 MW, enough to serve more than 8 million homes.

Texas tops all states for wind power, with 7,907 MW installed.

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services