U.S. wind power has more than tripled over the past decade, and today is the largest source of renewable energy in the country, providing 10.2% of U.S. electricity. Wind supports economic development, delivering over $1.9 billion every year in state and local tax payments and landowner lease payments. Wind supports domestic manufacturing with over 500 facilities across 50 states employing 24,000 people. In total, the U.S. wind industry directly employs 120,000 workers while avoiding 330 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to 72 million cars’ worth of emissions.
Canada has just begun to tap into its vast wind energy resource and is already one of the world’s largest producers of wind energy. At the end of 2022, Canada had ~15 GW of installed wind energy capacity. Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030. Today, Canada’s electricity grid is 80% non-emitting, and the federal government has adopted a target to have this increase to 90% by 2030, investing $600 million over the next five years to support renewable electricity and grid modernization projects.
Mexico currently has 70 wind projects in production totaling 7,154 MW which is equivalent to powering 14 million homes. The total wind project investment in Mexico represents $13 million (USD) and provides 6,933 jobs in the country. While the long-term outlook in Mexico sees 2.2 GW of wind project installations this will offset 12.2 million tons of CO2 and equal to taking 3 million cars of the road.