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In the six months to June, total renewables (including hydro) produced 20% of the US's electricity, only a whisker behind the contribution from nuclear. This is partly due to a rebound from hydro with the ending of the drought in the West--hydro was up 16% year on year. But wind was up 15.6%, and large-scale solar rose 55%, though solar still makes up just 1.3% of total generation. Total electricity production was down 1.6%.
Renewables (excluding hydro) are growing by 16% per annum. At this growth rate renewables will equal the amount of electricity currently generated from coal power stations within 6 years. Meanwhile, the output of electricity from coal will continue to fall, because coal and nuclear are the most expensive generation sources. Gas on the other hand is a lot cheaper, and can also be easily scaled up or down to fit in with variable demand as well as variable supply. And at that point non-hydro renewables will probably be the largest source of electricity, providing 30% of the USA's electricity supply. A couple of years after that, more than 50% of the US's electricity will be coming from renewables of all sources.
Something to look forward to.
Read more here and here.
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