Wind leads renewables’ dominance of new US energy capacity

Energy Disrupter

Wind power provided 4,040MW (29.4%) of the new capacity, with solar PV adding a further 3,759MW (27.3%).

Natural gas remained the market leader, adding 5,869MW (42.7%) in new capacity in H1 2020, but that was well down on the 7,510MW installed in the same period in 2019, which then represented more than 60% of new build.

There were no new capacity additions for either oil or nuclear in the first half of 2020, and just 20MW for coal.

Ferc predicts that wind and solar will each add around 27GW of new net generating capacity by the end of June 2023, by which time they will account for over a quarter of total US capacity. They currently provide 13.1%.

The generating capacity of coal is forecast to plummet by 22.4GW in the same period, stated Ferc.