Renewables = 84% of New Electricity Generation Capacity in 1st Quarter of 2015 (Exclusive)

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US electricity capaxcity report Q1 2015Building off of a strong January and February, new electricity generation capacity added in the USA in March brought the 1st quarter split to 84% for all renewables, 81% for solar + wind.

Utility-scale solar power now accounts for 1% of total US electricity generation capacity, small-scale solar an estimated 0.7%, and wind 5.6%. Of course, hydro is still the largest source among all renewables, accounting for 8.5% of all US electricity generation capacity.

While the trends in recent months and years are quite positive, we’re still adding a lot of natural gas, and the total installed capacity of coal (27.6%) + natural gas (41.8%) + oil (3.9%) = a depressing 73.3% of the total US power capacity pie.

Let’s rejoice in the 84% split for renewables so far in 2015, but let’s remember that we need to work hard to speed up this transition and the closure of fossil fuel power plants that harm our health, threaten a livable climate, and cause innumerable premature deaths every year.

You can check out more details in the charts and table below.

US Renewable Energy Capacity - Mar 2015


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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