All of New U.S. Capacity in July Came from Renewable Sources

By Solar Industry Magazine All new U.S. electrical generating capacity put into service in July came from renewable energy sources, according to the latest Energy Infrastructure Update report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Citing the FERC statistics, renewable energy advocacy group the SUN DAY Campaign says 379 MW of wind, 21 MW of solar and 5 MW of hydropower came online in the month.

For the first seven months of this year, renewables have accounted from more than half (53.8 percent) of the 4,758 MW of new U.S. electrical capacity that has entered service, with solar (25.8 percent) and wind (25.1 percent) each accounting for more than a quarter of the total. In addition, biomass provided 1.8 percent, geothermal 0.7 percent and hydropower 0.4 percent.

As for the balance, natural gas accounted for 45.9 percent, while a small fraction (0.3 percent) came from oil and “other” combined. SUN DAY notes that there has been no new electrical generating capacity from either coal or nuclear thus far in 2014. Wind turbines from the Maple Ridge Wind Farm outside of Lowville, NY. Photo: Chris Bentley /flickr

Renewable energy sources now account from 16.3 percent of total installed operating generating capacity in the U.S.: hydro – 8.57 percent, wind – 5.26 percent, biomass – 1.37 percent, solar – 0.75 percent and geothermal – 0.33 percent.

“This is not the first time in recent years that all new electrical generating capacity for a given month has come from renewable energy sources,” comments Ken Bossong , executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “And it is likely to become an ever more frequent occurrence in the months and years ahead.”