Renewable Energy Provided 100% of New U.S. Electrical Capacity
According to an "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, renewable energy provided 100% of new U.S. electrical generating capacity in November 2013.
Solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, and hydropower units provided 394 MW of all new electrical generation placed in-service of last November. Renewable energy sources also provided 99 percent of all new electrical generating capacity in October 2013.
For the first eleven months of 2013, renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) have accounted for more than a third (34.9 percent) of all new electrical generating capacity: 2,631-MW solar, 1,108 MW wind, 519 MW biomass, 121 MW hydropower, and 39 MW geothermal. That is more than that provided thus far this year by coal (1,543 MW - 12.2 percent), oil (36 MW - 0.3 percent), and nuclear power (0 MW - 0.0 percent) combined. Solar alone comprises 20.8 percent of new generating capacity (2,631 MW) thus far this year - two-thirds more than its year-to-date total in 2012 (1,584 MW). However, natural gas has dominated 2013 thus far with 6,568 MW of new capacity (52.0 percent).
Ironically — and in seeming contradiction to the growth rates reflected in the new FERC data — earlier this week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the preliminary data for its forthcoming the Annual Energy Outlook 2014 and projected that renewable sources would provide only a paltry 16 percent of the nation's electricity supply by 2040.
Read more at Renewable Energy World.
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