U.S. Renewable Power Capacity Surpasses Coal For The First Time

Electricity-generating wind turbines are seen on a wind farm in the San Gorgonio Pass area on Earth Day, April 22, 2016, near Palm Springs, California. Photo credit DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images. The revolution in renewable power hit a new milestone in April. Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released it’s latest Energy Infrastructure Update (EIU), with data through April 2019. According to a press release by the non-profit SUN DAY Campaign, which analyzed the data, "that was enough to push renewable energy’s share of total available installed U.S. generating capacity up to 21.56%. By comparison, coal’s share dropped to 21.55% (down from 23.04% a year ago)." The press release also notes that: FERC only reports data for utility-scale facilities (i.e., those rated 1-MW or greater) and therefore its data does not reflect the capacity of distributed renewables, notably rooftop solar PV which – according to the EIA – accounts for approximately 30% of the nation’s electrical generation by solar. That would suggest that solar capacity is now actually 4% – or more – of the nation’s total and could increase by more than 20,000 MW by May 2022." While the EIU indicated a statistical dead heat for capacity […]

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