Canadian wind power company Sequoia Energy on Wednesday said it secured $16 million in funding from Good Energies.

The Winnipeg, Canada-based energy company has projects in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada, and in North Dakota. The funding will help the company advance these projects and expand in western Canada and the Midwest in the United States.

“We are very pleased that Good Energies recognizes Sequoia as the best strategic partner to advance wind energy in this region,” Sequoia Energy CEO Ron Diduch said. 

Wind energy is one of the most promising forms of renewable energy, according to analysts. It is also the world’s fastest-growing energy source, increasing in excess of 30 percent annually for the past five years, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

The cost of electricity from utility-scale wind systems has dropped significantly in the last 20 years. State-of-the-art wind power plants can generate electricity for less than 5 cents per kilowatt hour with the inclusion of tax credits in many parts of the United States, a price that is competitive with new coal- or gas-fired power plants, according to AWEA.

The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that wind energy could eventually provide as much as 20 percent of the country’s energy needs, although it currently contributes less than 1 percent.

Still, analysts warn there are major obstacles to scale wind energy generation. There is a lack of adequate transmission capacity to move large amounts of electricity from wind-rich regions of the country to major population hubs, said Ethan Zindler, head of North American research for New Energy Finance.

Mr. Zindler said rising steel prices, which has driven up the cost of wind turbines, and a lack of available parts for those turbines has slowed growth.