New Energy Growth Is Leaving NatGas Behind

New EIA And FERC Reports Show New Capacity Additions And Growth In Electrical Generation By Solar & Wind Are Expanding Faster Than Natural Gas; Trend Expected To Accelerate Over Next Three Years

Ken Bossong, December 21, 2020 (SUN DAY Campaign)

“…[A]nalysis of recently released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), electrical generation by solar and wind is beginning to close the gap with natural gas and the trend is accelerating…[W]ind accounted for 7.9% of U.S. electrical generation during the first nine months of 2020. Solar - including small-scale solar PV (e.g., rooftop systems) provided another 3.4%. By comparison, natural gas provided 40.6%...[And] the increase in new electricity from wind and solar was actually greater than the increase in electrical generation by natural gas…

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...[D]uring the first three-quarters of 2020, solar and wind increased their electrical generation by 45,285 gigawatt-hours (GWh) compared to the same period in 2019…[E]lectrical generation by natural gas increased by only 45,254 GWh. While it continued to provide the largest of the nation's electrical output, natural gas grew by only 3.8% during the first nine months of 2020 and actually dropped by 5.5% in the month of September…[W]ind grew by 12.2% and solar by 22.1%...Over the past half decade, electrical generation by wind has increased by 80.0% while that from solar is more than triple what it was in September 2015…[Natural gas increased] by only 23.6%...Wind and solar are projected to further narrow the gap with natural gas over the next three years…” click here for more

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