*_SUN DAY CAMPAIGN_*
_News Release_
*_FOR THE FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW:_*
*_NEW RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATING CAPACITY _*
*_EXCEEDS NATURAL GAS_*
*__*
*_RENEWABLES NOW ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN 20% _*
*_OF U.S. GENERATING CAPACITY_*
*__*
*_SOLAR CAPACITY IS EIGHT TIMES GREATER _*
*_THAN FIVE YEARS AGO_*
*__*
*_NO NEW COAL CAPACITY IN 2017; 18% LESS THAN 2012_*
**
*For Release: Tuesday - February 6, 2018 *
**
*Contact: Ken Bossong, 301-270-6477 x.6 <tel:(301)%20270-6477>*
**
*Washington DC*– According tothe latest issue of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission's (FERC) "Energy Infrastructure Update" (with data
through December 31, 2017), renewable sources (i.e., biomass,
geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) accounted for half (49.85%) of the
24,614 megawatts (MW) of new U.S. electrical generating capacity placed
into service in 2017. New natural gas capacity accounted for 48.67%,
with the balance coming from waste heat (0.89%), nuclear (0.41%), and
oil ( 0.16%). There was no new coal capacity added during 2017.
Based on a review by the SUN DAY Campaign of corresponding FERC year-end
reports issued for December 2016, December 2015, and December 2014, this
is the fourth year in a row that new capacity from renewable energy
sources exceeded that from natural gas. *
Growth in new solar capacity has been most dramatic. By the end of 2017,
installed generating capacity at utility-scale (i.e., 1-MW or larger)
solar facilities totaled 30.30 GW - roughly eight times (7.77%) greater
than that FERC reported five years ago in its December 2012 "Energy
Infrastructure Update." Solar is now 2.55% of total U.S. installed
utility-scale generating capacity. Moreover, inasmuch as FERC data do
not include distributed solar (e.g., rooftop PV), actual U.S. solar
capacity is significantly higher - perhaps 30% or more. **
In addition to solar, the generating capacity of each of the other
renewable energy sources also increased during the past five years: wind
by 53.88%, biomass by 11.20%, geothermal by 3.51%, and hydropower by
2.79%.Combined, the generating capacity of non-hydro renewables is
73.89% greater than that reported five years ago. Hydropower and
non-hydro renewables combined now account for more than a fifth (20.21%)
of the nation's installed generating capacity. A half-decade ago, they
were just 15.40% of the total. Wind alone is now 7.45% of total
capacity, up from 4.97% in December 2012.
By comparison, the generating capacities of natural gas and oil plants
have increased only modestly during the past five years: natural gas by
5.14% and oil by 5.35%. Meanwhile, while its generating capacity inched
up by 1.09%, nuclear power's share of total generating capacity actually
declined by 1.52%. Most dramatically, though, generating capacity
attributable to coal has declined by almost a fifth (17.83%) with its
share of total U.S. generating capacity declining from 29.17% in
December 2012 to 23.35% in December 2017.
"Notwithstanding a year-long effort by the Trump Administration and its
congressional allies to prop up coal, nuclear, and natural gas at the
expense of renewable energy sources, clean energy technologies have
proven themselves to be amazingly resilient," noted Ken Bossong,
Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. "The unmistakable lesson to
be drawn from the past five or more years of FERC data is that solar,
wind, and the other renewable energy sources are carving out a large and
rapidly-expanding share of the nation's electrical generation."
# # # # # # # # #
*Generating capacity is not the same as actual generation. According to
the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration
("Electric Power Monthly" with data through November 30, 2017),
renewable sources accounted for 17.70% of total U.S. electrical
generation whereas FERC reports that generating capacity attributable to
renewable energy sources was 20.21% as of December 2017. See:
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_es1b
<https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_es1b>
** According to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration ("Electric Power Monthly" with data through November 30,
2017), small-scale solar PV [i.e., that not counted by FERC in its
report] accounted for 31% of total solar.See:
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_es1b
<https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_es1b>
The latest 8-page issue of FERC's "Energy Infrastructure Update" was
released on February 6, 2018 and can be found at:
https://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2017/dec-energy-infrastructure.pdf
<https://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2017/dec-energy-infrastructure.pdf>
See tables titled "New Generating In-Service (New Build and Expansion)"
and "Total Available Installed Generating Capacity."
FERC's December 2012 "Energy Infrastructure Update" can be found at:
https://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2013/dec-2012-energy-infrastructure.pdf
<https://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2013/dec-2012-energy-infrastructure.pdf>
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The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational
organization founded in 1992 to aggressively promote sustainable energy
technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil
fuels.
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