| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
All New January US Electrical Generating Capacity Came From Renewable Sources
Solar panel, wind turbine & globe via Shutterstock
A new report from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects announced that 1,231 megawatts (MW) of new in-service electrical generating capacity came online in January 2012, and all of it came from a collection of wind, solar, and biomass sources.
The January numbers represent a nearly three-fold increase in new renewable energy capacity compared to the same time last year when new wind, solar, and biomass sources only amounted to 431 MW of new capacity.
Wind accounted for the largest share of the new electrical generating capacity installed this past January, with six new “units” providing 948 MW. Solar came next with 16 units installed totalling 267 MW and biomass installed 6 new units adding up to 6 MW.
There were absolutely no reports of any new generating capacity for fossil fuel or nuclear power sources.
The report (PDF) notes that renewable sources currently account for 15.66% of the total installed US operating generating capacity;
- Hydro – 8.50%
- Wind – 5.17%
- Biomass – 1.29
- Solar – 0.38
- Geothermal – 0.32
On the flipside of the operating generating capacity are fossil fuels, which account for the following percentages;
- Oil – 3.54%
- Nuclear – 9.23
- Coal – 29.04
- Natural Gas – 42.37
With these numbers as they stand, the only way is up, but I can’t help but wonder what impact Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One will have on those numbers in the months to follow. Just last week they reported that they had “achieved a peak generating capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) connected to the electrical grid.”
But that’s only half of the end goal. When construction is completed later this year, the ranch, located in northern Los Angeles County, will have a generating capacity of 230 MW.
Big solar farms like these are a big part of the growth of renewables over the past few years. A new report from analyst firm Wiki-Solar has concluded that “by the end of February utility-scale solar farms will have reached 12.2 GW of capacity across 488 installations, a figure almost double that of 12 months ago.”
All New January US Electrical Generating Capacity Came From Renewable Sources was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.
2013-02-25 08:46:05
Source:
