The national average price of wind power purchase agreements has dropped below 2¢ a kilowatt hour, according to the latest annual “Wind Technologies Market Report” released by the US Department of Energy in late August.

The average US wind farm cost $1.47 million an installed megawatt to build in 2018.

US wind generating capacity is expected to jump by 21% to 28% in the two years ending in 2020. Total wind capacity stood at 97,960 megawatts at the end of the Q2 2019. DOE is projecting 9,000 to 12,000 megawatts of new wind farms in the United States to be built in 2019 and 11,000 to 15,000 megawatts in 2020. Capacity additions are expected to slow after that as federal tax credits phase out.

The winning bids for a form of revenue contract called a contract for differences that were awarded to six offshore wind projects by the United Kingdom in a September auction ranged from £39.65 to £41.611 a megawatt hour in 2012 dollars, the basis on which projects were bid. These translate to £44.95 to £47.18 a megawatt hour if indexed to 2019 prices.