The US is still the wind energy world leader according to a report released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today.

The US Annual Wind Energy Industry Report claims that despite a slower rate of increase in manufacturing the US remains number 1 in industry rankings. 10 new manufacuring facilities were opened in 2009.

AWEA CEO Denise Bode said “Jobs, business opportunities, clean air, energy security—wind power is delivering today on all those fronts for Americans. Our annual report documents an industry hard at work and on the verge of explosive growth if the right policies—including a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) — are put in place. A national RES will provide the long-term certainty that businesses need to invest tens of billions of dollars in new installations and manufacturing facilities which would create hundreds of thousands of American jobs.”

The US installed over 10,000 Megawatts of wind energy in 2009 which is according to AWEA enough to power the same number of homes as 3 nuclear power stations.

GE was the biggest wind turbine seller with NextEra Energy Resources having the biggest wind farm ownership market share.

36 states have grid connected wind energy projects and 14 states are in what the AWEA calls the “Gigawatt Club” with more than 1,000 MW of installed wind capacity in each state. Around 85,000 people are estimated as being employed in the wind industry today.