BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- It happened about a year earlier than forecast, but the United States has become the world's largest generator of wind energy.

    Germany previously held this distinction, though since the United States has about 26 times more land than Germany, the milestone isn't a huge surprise.

    "Our wind energy capacity is growing faster than anyplace else," said Randall Swisher, the executive director of the American Wind Energy Association, the national trade organization for the wind energy industry. "So it's no longer really alternative energy. This is very mainstream."

    During the first half of 2008, the United States generated more wind energy electricity than Germany for the first time, despite the fact the smaller European country still has more turbines than we do.

    Germany has enough turbines to collect about 22,000 to 23,000 megawatts of power, while the United States has a capacity of about 18,000 megawatts, Swisher said.

    "The difference is that because the winds are so much stronger here in the U.S. we are actually providing more wind-generated electricity than Germany," Swisher told LiveScience. "Our turbines are so much more productive that theirs."

    While wind currently supplies about 1.2 percent of the United States' power, it accounts for about 7 percent of Germany's total energy consumption. And the even-smaller country of Denmark gets roughly 20 percent of its energy from wind.

    Most of America's wind power is being collected in Texas (which provides more than 25 percent of the country's wind-generated electricity), the Midwest, and West Coast, Swisher said.

    (Agencies)