Based upon a review by the Sun Day Campaign of data newly released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) provided almost two-thirds (64.64%) of new U.S. utility-scale generating capacity added in the first quarter of this year.
New utility-scale solar capacity was 2,530 megawatts (MW) or 39.56% of the total ... and that does not include small-scale distributed PV systems. New wind capacity provided 1,475-MW or 23.06% of the total. Hydropower and biomass added 100-MW and 29-MW respectively. New natural gas capacity totaled 2,259-MW (35.32)% and was supplemented by 2-MW of new oil. No new capacity additions were reported for coal, nuclear power, or geothermal energy.
With these latest additions, renewable energy now accounts for 27.67% of total installed utility-scale generating capacity including 11.51% from wind and 6.67% from solar.
