Wind energy makes up nearly 10% of all Wyoming electricity

Wind energy is responsible for 9.4% of all electricity generated in the state of Wyoming.

That's according to a new American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) report released on Wednesday.

With that, Wyoming is now ranked 15th in the nation for wind-created electricity. Businesses in the wind industry employee close to a thousand people in the Cowboy State.

Down in Colorado, 17.3% of electricity is generated by wind, 10.1% in Nebraska.

Combined, the U.S. has enough installed wind to power 24 million homes and is now the country's largest renewable energy resource.

Installing over 8,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind power for a second straight year, the U.S. industry invested over $14 billion in 2016 in new wind farms built in rural America, and now supports a record-high 102,500 jobs.

Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA, says, “By building new wind farms we are investing in rural and Rust Belt America. And last year, wind energy became America’s number one source of renewable generating capacity, further advancing U.S. energy security.”

Over 74 percent of U.S. congressional districts have operational wind energy projects or active wind-related manufacturing facilities, according to the report, including 77 percent of Republican districts and 69 percent of Democratic districts.

For more information check out: http://awea.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=898c70d4615a456e89453426d5f2797a