According to the recently released Energy Infrastructure Update from the Office of Energy Projects at the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), renewable energy sources accounted for 69.75 percent of new electrical generation placed into service in the first six months of 2015.
Wind provided more than half (50.64 percent) of all new capacity, or 1,969 megawatts (MW) thus far this year from 18 generating “units.” Solar followed with 549 MW (71 units), biomass with 128 MW (7 units), geothermal steam with 45 MW (1 unit), and hydropower with 21 MW (1 unit).
Twenty-one units of natural gas contributed 1,173 MW and one unit of coal provided just 3 MW of new generating capacity. For the first half of 2015, new generating capacity from renewable energy sources was 904 times greater than that from coal and more than double that from natural gas. To date, no new capacity came from either nuclear or oil.
The trend continues with renewable energy now accounting for 17.27 percent of total installed operating generating capacity in the U.S.: water – 8.61%, wind – 5.84%, biomass – 1.40%, solar – 1.08%, and geothermal steam – 0.34% (for comparison, renewables were 16.28% of capacity in June 2014 and 15.81% in June 2013).
Renewable electrical capacity is now greater than that of nuclear (9.20%) and oil (3.87%) combined. In fact, the installed capacity of wind power alone has now surpassed that of oil.