WASHINGTON, D.C. --
According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects,
solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, and hydropower "units" provided 394 MW
— or 100 percent — of all new electrical generation placed in-service
in November 2013. There was no new capacity during the month from
natural gas, coal, oil, or nuclear power. Renewable energy sources also
provided 99 percent of all new electrical generating capacity in
October.
For the first eleven months of 2013, renewable energy
sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) have
accounted for more than a third (34.9 percent) of all new electrical
generating capacity: 2,631-MW solar, 1,108 MW wind, 519 MW biomass, 121
MW hydropower, and 39 MW geothermal. That is more than that provided
thus far this year by coal (1,543 MW - 12.2 percent), oil (36 MW - 0.3
percent), and nuclear power (0 MW - 0.0 percent) combined. Solar alone
comprises 20.8 percent of new generating capacity (2,631 MW) thus far
this year - two-thirds more than its year-to-date total in 2012 (1,584
MW). However, natural gas has dominated 2013 thus far with 6,568 MW of
new capacity (52.0 percent).
Renewable sources now account for 15.9 percent of total
installed U.S. operating generating capacity: water - 8.42 percent,
wind - 5.20 percent, biomass - 1.34 percent, solar - 0.61 percent, and
geothermal steam — 0.33 percent. This is more than nuclear (9.20
percent) and oil (4.05 percent) combined. Note that generating capacity
is not the same as actual generation. Actual net electrical generation
from renewable energy sources in the United States now totals 13-14
percent.
Ironically — and in seeming contradiction to the growth
rates reflected in the new FERC data — earlier this week, the U.S.
Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the preliminary data
for its forthcoming the Annual Energy Outlook 2014 and
projected that renewable sources would provide only a paltry 16
percent of the nation's electricity supply by 2040. EIA's own data
reveal that renewables were already providing 14.2 percent of the
nation's electrical generation as of June 30, 2013.
FERC's latest renewable energy capacity data, coupled with
the actual electrical generation from renewable sources, reveal a
growing disconnect with the longer-term projections being issued by EIA.
With virtually all new electrical generation coming from renewables
during the last two months, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and
hydropower are rapidly outpacing EIA's unduly conservative forecasts.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/renewable-energy-provides-100-of-all-new-us-electrical-generating-capacity-in-2013
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