Competitive Electric Power from Renewable Energy
- About 10% of U.S. electricity comes from hydropower.
- The cost of producing electricity from wind power has dropped from 80 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1980 (in current dollars) to 5 to 8 cents today.
- More than 75% of the nation's renewable energy is generated by hydropower.
- Wind energy is the fastest-growing energy generation technology, expanding by 30% to 40% annually.
- Commercial wind energy systems are currently installed in 36 states.
The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program is leading the nation's efforts to improve the performance and operability of wind energy technologies and lower the costs, to investigate emerging water power technologies, and to enhance the environmental performance and efficiencies of conventional hydropower technologies.
The program sponsors research and development activities to enable greater use of two abundant domestic resources for electric power generation that will help stabilize energy costs, enhance energy security, and improve our environment. These activities are conducted through competitively selected, cost-shared research and development projects with industry and are performed in partnership with federal, state, industry, and other stakeholder groups.
Most wind energy research is carried out at world-class facilities located at DOE's National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories. Hydropower research is conducted at Idaho National Energy and Environmental Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Learn more about the specific missions and goals for water power and wind energy research.