Texas and Iowa Installed More Wind Turbines Than Ever Last Year

(Bloomberg) -- The top two U.S. states for wind power installed their most turbines ever last year, helping push up nationwide capacity growth to a seven-year high as tax benefits sent developers rushing projects into service.

Texas added almost 4 gigawatts and Iowa installed 1.7 gigawatts, expanding their lead in wind power capacity, according to a report from the American Wind Energy Association released Wednesday. That helped boost total U.S. installations to 9.1 gigawatts last year, the most since the expiration of federal tax credits triggered a building boom in 2012.

Those tax credits got extended several times and were set to expire again this year, setting off another race to complete projects. That ushered in the industry’s third-best year in history, and another extension for one year was approved just before they expired.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Ryan at jryan173@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada

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