solar panels and wind generators under blue sky on sunset Washington DC – According to a review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data recently released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) dominated new U.S. electrical generating capacity additions and increased their contribution to the nation’s electrical production in the first half of 2021. Key Findings from FERC : FERC’s latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through June 30, 2021) reveals that renewable energy sources accounted for 91.6% – or 10,940 megawatts (MW) – of the 11,940 MW of new capacity added during the first six months of the year. Wind led the capacity additions with 5,617 MW, followed closely by solar (5,279 MW). Further, wind and solar were the only sources of new capacity additions in June 2021. Renewables now provide more than a quarter (25.1%) of total U.S. available installed generating capacity. A year ago, their share was only 23.0%. Wind is now more than a tenth (10.4%) of the nation’s generating capacity while utility-scale solar is nearly five percent (4.9%) … and that does not include distributed […]
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