page_title: Wind power in the United States
section_title: Illinois
hierarchical_section_title: Wind power in the United States / Wind power by state / Illinois
context_page_description: Wind power in the United States is a branch of the energy industry that has expanded quickly over the latest several years. From January through December of 2019, 300.1 terawatt-hours were generated by wind power, or 7.29% of all generated electrical energy in the United States. That same year, wind power surpassed hydroelectric power as the largest renewable energy source generated in the U.S.
  As of January 2020, the total installed wind power nameplate generating capacity in the United States was 105,583 megawatts.
  This capacity is exceeded only by China and the European Union. 1,821 MW were further installed by the end of the first quarter of 2020, increasing the total capacity to 107,443 MW.
  Thus far, wind power's largest growth in capacity was in 2012, when 11,895 MW of wind power was installed, representing 26.5% of new power capacity.
  By September of 2019, 19 states had over 1,000 MW of installed capacity with 5 states generating over half of all wind energy in the nation. Texas, with 28,843 MW of capacity, about 16.8% of the state's electricity usage, had the most installed wind power capacity of any U.S. state at the end of 2019.
context_section_description: Wind power has been supported by a renewable portfolio standard, passed in 2007, and strengthened in 2009, which requires 10% renewable energy from electric companies by 2010 and 25% by 2025. Illinois has the potential for installing up to an estimated 249,882 MW of wind generation capacity at a hub height of 80 meters.
caption: The average monthly per person wind generation for the top 20 U.S. states is shown. For reference, the average monthly residential electricity use in the U.S. is about 900 kW-hours.