Watch videos capture power of wind farms, technological advancement

A wave of new videos shared over the last month do a great job of capturing the power of U.S. wind farms and how wind turbine technology continues to evolve. American wind power has more than tripled since 2008, supplying over five percent of U.S. electricity today. That growth has been largely due to performance-based tax policy (Production Tax Credit) and American workers advancing turbine technology.

Together, those factors have helped lower wind power’s costs by two-thirds over six years. This rapid growth is also transforming communities. The following five videos help show how wind turbine technology is transforming, and how that changes the way companies are doing business and communities are benefiting.

Building wind farms in the U.S. has widely benefited local communities, creating well-paying jobs, attracting billions of dollars in private investment, and paying $222 million dollars a year to local landowners, including farmers and ranchers. Charlottesville, Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy published the following video this week, telling the story of how one Oklahoma family lives and works alongside a recently constructed wind farm.

This summer Whirlpool, the American manufacturer of several staple home appliances, announced its plan to build wind turbines to help power two of its Ohio plants. The announcement represents a $13.5 million investment, according to Whirlpool. Watch how the company installed the turbines and how they’re  generating clean energy across the supply chain.

Iowa’s largest energy provider, MidAmerican Energy,  published “Reaching New Heights” recently, using time-lapse footage and aerial photography to capture its testing of a new taller wind turbine design. The resulting video shows construction of the largest land-based wind turbine ever built in the United States, which could capture potentially new wind resources.

Along with land-based wind power, wind turbine technology advances continue to be made by offshore wind power in the U.S. This U.S. Department of Energy video shows us the completion of the country’s first-ever offshore wind farm this past summer, the Block Island wind farm, off the coast of Rhode Island.

This Economist video also documents progress made by the offshore wind farm industry. This video explains how oil and gas giant Statoil is building on 40 years of offshore experience to erect its first floating wind farm.