Humans have been harnessing wind power for millennia pumping water or milling flour. Today’s 75,000 wind turbines work similarly, but their large blades are generating electricity as wind causes them to rotate. As these blades are pushed by the wind, a connected internal shaft that is attached to an electric generator also turns and generates electricity.
Wind power is one of the safest sources of energy relying on one key factor: wind speeds. The U.S. generated 464,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity from wind in 2025, a 3% increase from 2024.
The growth of wind power in the U.S. has been astonishing – especially when you consider that wind energy only made up 0.2% of U.S. electricity generating capacity in 1990. Wind energy now makes up slightly more than 10% of utility-scale electricity in the U.S.--generating enough energy to power one third of all American homes.. Already by March and April 2024, wind electricity generation exceeded coal-fired generation, establishing a new record. Since 2020, wind energy generation in the U.S. has increased 34%, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Unsurprisingly, the majority of America’s onshore wind turbine infrastructure is located in the middle of the nation, where there is flat, open space for air from the South and North to collide and create a consistent wind alley. Additionally, many wind farms are built next to mountainous terrain where wind is “funnel[ed] and intensif[ied]”.
By 2026, the top five wind-generating states, Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois, were generating 59% of all America’s wind energy. Driven by growth in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, and Wyoming, the Energy Information Administration anticipates that an additional 11.8 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy will be added to the U.S. electricity mix in 2026. For perspective, 1 GW can provide enough energy for around 300,000 homes. Most of this development will be occurring in the Midwest plains and Western mountainous regions.
ONSHORE WIND UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) supercharged U.S. onshore wind, triggering a massive wave of new projects and repowering upgrades. However, because onshore wind relies heavily on federal tax structures, recent policy rollbacks under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) have hit this specific sector harder than any other clean energy technology with only 52% of the generation and 47% of the capacity expected under the IRA preserved, according to a recent MIT report.
ONSHORE WIND UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
On his first day in office IN 2025, President Trump issued a moratorium on all approvals for wind farms on federal lands. A year later, during a White House meeting with oil and gas executives, he clarified his feelings stating "My goal is to not let any windmill be built. They're losers," according to reports from CNN and USA Today. He was specifically referring to offshore wind at that moment but under Trump Administration orders, onshore wind developers began encountering severe delays in August 2025 as the Pentagon began withholding military reviews of proposed wind farms, which, for years, were considered routine checks to make sure turbines do not interfere with military processes such as radar and flight paths. Since April 2026, more than 150 wind projects have stalled as the review process halted entirely.
On June 12, a coalition of renewable energy groups asked a federal court to order the Pentagon to resume reviews of onshore wind projects, in an attempt to end the delays that have brought the U.S. wind power industry to a standstill. Additionally, they requested a preliminary injunction from the Pentagon to prevent continuous loss of funds and the potential loss of federal tax credits provided by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act which they will soon be unable to qualify for.
On August 6, a federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump ordered agency to resume its reviews — and put an end to that freeze on wind projects. The preliminary injunction requires the DoD to report to the court on its progress every 30 days while the legal case proceeds.
NOTABLE ONSHORE WIND DEVELOPMENT IN THE SUMMER OF 2026
The largest wind facility in U.S. history, PatternEnergy’s SunZia project in New Mexico was completed in June 2026. It currently provides 3.65 GW to the grid, powering 1 million homes. This is a landmark project, marking the height of the impacts the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act has had on the renewable energy industry. From here on out, the wind industry is expected to decline due to political challenges.
Pattern Energy’s SunZia project avoided being killed by the Trump administration because its construction had already been fully financed, it secured its critical federal rights-of-way prior to the administration's new restrictions, and it provides crucial electricity to Western power grid.
AND, THEN THERE IS OFFSHORE WIND
Offshore wind is also evolving rapidly despite this pressure — go to our page to learn more about these incredible and fairly new contributions to our energy stream.
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