2019’s New Energy Was Over 18% Of U.S. Power Generation

EIA's 2019 Year-End Report: Electricity From Non-Hydro Renewables Increased By 8.5%, Provided 11.6% Of Total U.S. Production; Solar Expanded 14.9% - Wind Grew By 10.1%

February 27, 2020 (Sun Day)

“Renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) accounted for 18.2% of net domestic electrical generation during 2019…A year earlier, renewables' share was 17.5%...[S]olar and wind both showed continued, strong growth, expanding faster than all other energy sources…Solar, including small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, grew 14.9% compared to 2018 and accounted for almost 2.6% of total electrical output. Small-scale solar (e.g., distributed rooftop systems) - which increased by 18.6% - provided nearly a third (32.7%) of total solar electrical generation. The growth rate of distributed solar was greater than that of any other energy source…U.S. wind-generated electricity increased by 10.1%, accounting for 7.2% of all electricity produced…

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…Combined, wind and solar accounted for almost a tenth (9.8%) of U.S. electrical generation through the end of December. In addition, biomass provided a bit more than 1.4% and geothermal contributed almost 0.4% (with the latter reflecting 0.3% growth)…In total, non-hydro renewable sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, solar, wind) accounted for 11.6% of total U.S. electrical production during 2019 and grew by 8.5% compared to 2018…By comparison, nuclear-generated electricity increased by just 0.3% while that from coal plummeted by 15.7%...[Natural gas] grew by 7.7%...” click here for more

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