Question

How many 1 gigawatt hydro or wind power ‘plants’ would be required to generate all of the electricity require in the US?

Answer 1

Dear Student,

Electricity Generation through Wind Power Plants in US:

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the contiguous United States has the potential for 10,459 GW of onshore wind power.

The capacity could generate 37 petawatt-hours (PW·h) annually, an amount nine times larger than current total U.S. electricity consumption.

The U.S. also has large wind resources in Alaska and Hawaii.

In addition to the large onshore wind resources, the U.S. has large offshore wind power potential, with another NREL report released in September 2010 showing that the U.S. has 4,150 GW of potential offshore wind power nameplate capacity, an amount 4 times that of the country's 2008 installed capacity from all sources, of 1,010 GW.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2008 report 20% Wind Energy by 2030 envisioned that wind power could supply 20% of all U.S. electricity, which included a contribution of 4% to the nation’s total electricity from offshore wind power.

In order to achieve this, however, significant advances in cost, performance and reliability are needed, based on a 2011 report from a coalition of researchers from universities, industry, and government, supported by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future Obtaining 20% from wind requires about 305 GW of wind turbines, an increase of 16 GW/year after 2018, or an average increase of 14.6%/year, and transmission line improvements.

Analysts estimate 25 GW of added US wind power in 2016-18.

Electricity Generation through Hydro Power Plants in US:

According to a United States Department of Energy report, there exists over 12000MW of potential hydroelectricity capacity in the US existing 80,000 unpowered dams. Harnessing the currently unpowered dams could generate 16000 GW.