Wind power in North Dakota


North Dakota is a leading U.S. state in wind power generation. The state generated 26.8% of its electricity from wind during year 2017, enough to power over one million homes.
2,996 megawatts of generation capacity had been installed for wind power in North Dakota at the end of 2017. Additional capacity had been limited by transmission line constraints until the completion of a transmission line from Fargo to central Minnesota in 2015. Capacity further reached 3,628 MW in 2019.
Very favorable wind conditions in the state enable wind farms to achieve capacity factors in excess of 40 percent. The 105 MW Thunder Spirit wind farm, completed in 2015, was expected to have a capacity factor greater than 45 percent.

Wind farms in North Dakota

North Dakota hosts a growing number of utility-scale wind farms in all regions of the state. The largest is the 497 MW Bison Wind Energy Center completed in year 2015. The state had the highest per-capita wind generation in the nation in 2017 according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Statistics


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bar:2000 from:start till:0.4 text:0.4
bar:2001 from:start till:0.4 text:0.4
bar:2002 from:start till:4.8 text:4.8
bar:2003 from:start till:66.3 text:66.3
bar:2004 from:start till:66.3 text:66.3
bar:2005 from:start till:97.8 text:97.8
bar:2006 from:start till:178.3 text:178.3
bar:2007 from:start till:344.8 text:344.8
bar:2008 from:start till:714.5 text:714.5
bar:2009 from:start till:1202.6 text:1,202.6
bar:2010 from:start till:1423.6 text:1,423.6
bar:2011 from:start till:1445 text:1,445
bar:2012 from:start till:1680 text:1,680
bar:2013 from:start till:1681 text:1,681
bar:2014 from:start till:1886 text:1,886
bar:2015 from:start till:2143 text:2,143
bar:2016 from:start till:2746 text:2,746
bar:2017 from:start till:2996 text:2,996
bar:2018 from:start till:3155 text:3,155
bar:2019 from:start till:3628 text:3,628
bar:2020 from:start till:3989 text:3,989
bar:2021 from:start till:4302 text:4,302
Megawatts of generating capacity


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bar:2003 from:start till:58 text:58
bar:2004 from:start till:215 text:215
bar:2005 from:start till:221 text:221
bar:2006 from:start till:370 text:370
bar:2007 from:start till:621 text:621
bar:2008 from:start till:1693 text:1,693
bar:2009 from:start till:2996 text:2,996
bar:2010 from:start till:4096 text:4,096
bar:2011 from:start till:5236 text:5,236
bar:2012 from:start till:5275 text:5,275
bar:2013 from:start till:5519 text:5,519
bar:2014 from:start till:6203 text:6,203
bar:2015 from:start till:6507 text:6,507
bar:2016 from:start till:8173 text:8,173
bar:2017 from:start till:11360 text:11,360
bar:2018 from:start till:10732 text:10,732
bar:2019 from:start till:11213 text:11,213
bar:2020 from:start till:13635 text:13,635
bar:2021 from:start till:14543 text:14,543
bar:2022 from:start till:16568 text:16,568
Million kilowatt-hours of electricity

Source:

Seasonal generation

North Dakota wind generation is strong year-round, and tends to be strongest during the spring and fall.

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bar:Feb from:start till:950
bar:Mar from:start till:1088
bar:Apr from:start till:1003
bar:May from:start till:969
bar:Jun from:start till:832
bar:Jul from:start till:555
bar:Aug from:start till:476
bar:Sept from:start till:760
bar:Oct from:start till:1166
bar:Nov from:start till:1113
bar:Dec from:start till:1201