Sunday, September 13, 2020

60% of new generation capacity renewable

 From CleanTechnica

Solar power keeps growing in the United States. In the month of June, 60.1% of new power capacity added in the country was from solar power plants. Another 37.5% was from wind power plants. And 2.4% was from hydropower. If you’ve done the quick math on that, that means that 100% of new power capacity came from renewable energy sources in June. 

In the first 6 months of the year together, 27.3% of new power capacity came from solar, 29.4% came from wind, 0.4% came from hydropower, and 42.7% came from natural gas. 


The charts below show how renewable new capacity installations have jumped over 2019, while gas has declined.  2019 was reduced because  Trump imposed a "protective" tariff on imported solar panels, but the continued cost decline has reduced panel prices to below what they were before the tariff.  Note also that these data show gross additions to generating capacity.  Coal capacity is being shut down, so the net growth in total capacity is lower.  In the USA, gas peaking is still cheaper than battery peaking, but the sustained cost declines in batteries means that this will not be true for much longer.







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