For the first time, the installed capacity of renewable energy (including biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind power) in the United States has surpassed that of coal. According to an analysis by the non-governmental organization Sun Day Campaign, in the first four months of this year, renewable energy accounted for 21.56% of total installed capacity in the U.S., while coal's share fell to 21.55%. Sun Day's analysis is based on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) latest monthly "Energy Infrastructure Update" report. In the four months ending April 30th of this year, 18 wind farms (1545MW) and 102 solar farms (1473MW) were added, along with four new hydropower plants (29MW), bringing renewable energy's share of total installed capacity in the U.S. to 21.56%. In contrast, coal's share fell to 21.55% (down from 23.04% a year ago). According to another report released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (FERC), renewable energy is expected to generate more electricity than coal in April, partly due to seasonal factors. Meanwhile, the U.S. has significantly reduced its demand for coal. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) states that U.S. coal consumption has fallen by 39% since peaking in 2008, the lowest in 40 years. FERC data also shows that U.S. renewable energy installed capacity has grown by an average of one percentage point per year, from only 18.16% three years ago to 20.66% a year ago. Over the past three years, the proportion of installed capacity provided by utility-scale solar alone has more than doubled, from 1.42% to 3.23%. Sunday points out that FERC only reports data on utility-scale facilities, i.e., facilities of 1 MW or higher; therefore, this data does not include distributed renewable energy capacity, such as rooftop solar. According to EIA data, distributed renewable energy capacity accounts for approximately 30% of the nation's solar power generation. This means that solar capacity actually accounts for more than 4% of the total national capacity. Meanwhile, the share of wind power increased from 6.43% to 8.25%, and is expected to surpass that of hydropower (8.41%) in the coming months. The same report indicates that by May 2022, planned power generation facilities with a "high probability" of addition or decommissioning could add a net 40,993 MW of renewable energy capacity. In contrast, the net capacity of nuclear, coal, oil, and natural gas could decrease by 24 MW. SUN DAY explains that this is because decommissioning capacity will exceed new capacity. While the net increase in natural gas is projected at 18,530 MW, this far exceeds the net decommissioning of coal (12,409 MW), nuclear power (5,106 MW), and oil (1,039 MW). The projected net increase in natural gas is even less than that of wind power (25,117 MW) and almost equivalent to utility-scale solar power (14,846 MW). Furthermore, if FERC's projections prove accurate, renewable energy will provide nearly a quarter (24.15%) of the nation's available capacity within three years. Of this, wind power will account for one-tenth (10.01%), solar power 4.32%, and the remainder from hydropower (8.16%), biomass (1.33%), and geothermal (0.33%). SUN DAY emphasizes that installed capacity differs from actual generation, and that nuclear and fossil fuel capacity often exceeds that of most renewable energy sources. According to an EIA report, renewable energy accounted for 17.6% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2018, slightly less than the 2018 installed capacity (over 21.2%). Coal accounted for 27.2% of generation in 2018. Under pressure from customers and state governments, power companies are increasingly inclined to adopt cleaner energy sources. Con Edison (ED), one of the largest privately owned electric utilities in the U.S., acquired $2.1 billion worth of solar and wind power projects last year. The company is now the second-largest solar producer in North America. Minneapolis-based Xcel... XEL Energy has transformed from a primarily coal-fired power company into one committed to achieving zero-carbon electricity by 2050. Even relatively clean fossil fuels like natural gas are beginning to face pressure from renewable energy sources. According to a report released on June 10th by energy analysis firm Drillinginfo, wind and solar power installations are expected to replace 1.42 billion cubic feet of natural gas power generation demand per day. Source: TEIA (2019/06/21)
