State adds wind farms, but slips in national ranking

by Martin Moylan, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota added a dozen wind farms last year but slipped in rankings of states with the most wind power capacity.

Minnesota dropped from fourth to fifth place despite a total of 103 wind farms. The rankings come from the American Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group.

Illinois, which deployed more than 400 wind turbines last year, pulled ahead of Minnesota to take the fourth spot. The top three states for wind power output are Texas, Iowa and California.

The U.S. wind industry installed just over 6,800 megawatts in 2011, with more than 8,300 megwatts under construction.