# FERC report indicates shining days for renewable energy sector

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) report said solar, wind, and hydropower have accounted for 59.6 percent of new capacity added to the U.S. electricity generation mix during the first quarter of 2019.

59 units of new solar provided 1,155-MW while 15 units of wind accounted for 1,011-MW and four units of hydropower added 29-MW, for a total of 2,195-MW. By comparison, 16 units of natural gas (1,482-MW) and two units of oil (5-MW) contributed 1,487-MW. FERC reported no new capacity from coal, nuclear, or any other sources.

Utility-scale renewable energy sources including biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind now account for 21.49 percent of the total installed operating generating capacity – more than double that of nuclear power (9.04 percent) and almost equal to that of coal (21.68 percent).

FERC lists currently installed solar (38.10-GW) as providing 3.19 percent of total U.S. generating capacity. ERC does not include small-scale solar (i.e., less than 1-MW) which accounts for roughly one-third of U.S. installed solar generating capacity. Its inclusion would mean that total renewable energy generating capacity is now greater than that of coal, said the SUN DAY Campaign.

Over the next three years new additions in generating capacity by renewable energy sources will be nearly 100 greater than those of all fossil fuel and nuclear sources combined.

Specifically, net new additions of natural gas will total 20,304-MW but be almost entirely offset by net retirements of coal (14,624-MW), oil (1,030-MW), and nuclear power (4,252-MW) for a net increase of only 398-MW.

Each renewable energy technology is projected to experience net new additions — wind: 24,866-MW, solar: 12,925-MW, hydropower: 415-MW, biomass: 319-MW, and geothermal: 280-MW — for a combined total of 38,805-MW. That is 97.5 times more net new renewable energy capacity additions than projected for fossil fuels and nuclear combined.

“With renewable energy generating capacity now equal to that of coal and new renewable capacity additions projected to exceed those of fossil fuels and nuclear power over the next three years, 2019 may eventually be remembered as the beginning of the era of renewable energy dominance,” said Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign.