New burst of wind energy for state of Washington?

In the Northwest, a new U.S. Department of Energy report could mean a resurgence of interest and investment in wind farms. It says energy from wind has hit a record low price, with the performance rising and the cost of installing turbines falling 20 to 40 percent in the last five years.

Washington ranks seventh among states for installed wind capacity, but much of the power generated here isn't used here. Cliff Gilmore, communications director for Renewable Northwest, explains it's important to think of clean-power generation as regional which means for investors, the market isn't limited.

"Basically, the sharing of energy - energy moving where it needs to be, when it needs to be there - is a tremendous factor when we're talking about the region," Gilmore says. "In Washington and Oregon, you still have the opportunity to create clean generation that fuels the market and meets demand beyond the Pacific Northwest."

He says about half the wind power produced in Washington and Oregon is sold in California.

The Energy Department report says last year's wind-power price contracts with utilities averaged under 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour, down from 7 cents in 2009.

Gilmore says the improving technology has been key, but points to wind's special advantage over power generation that requires fossil fuels.

"When you're talking about wind, you don't need to worry about that fuel cost; the fuel is the wind," he says. "So, the advantage if you have a renewable resource, whether it's wind or solar, or whatever, if the price of putting that in goes down, then that means the price of that energy goes down."

The Energy Department says one-third of the new generating capacity added in the U.S. since 2007 has been wind power.