Earlier this month, the Office of Energy Projects at the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released their monthly update on new electricity generation projects, and the news is bright for renewable energy: a full 92 percent of all new capacity added in the United States so far this year came in the form of renewable energy, a larger share than over the same period last year.
In the first three months of the year, 1,150 megawatts of new generation capacity, in the form of new plants or expansions of existing ones, came online in the United States. Of this, all but 91 megawatts came from renewable generation sources. Solar took home the crown with half of the new capacity, while wind picked up the majority of the rest, with 37 percent of the added capacity. The only major non-renewable source to add capacity was natural gas, which added a measly 90 megawatts of generation capacity.
Compared to the same period last year, much less overall capacity was added — from January through March of 2013, the country added nearly 3,300 megawatts of capacity, or nearly triple the amount that came online this year. But the renewable slice of the pie grew, up from 84 percent over the first three months of last year.
The largest two renewable projects to come online in March were in New York and California. In Wyoming County, in Western New York, the 92.8-megawatt Orangeville Wind Farm was activated. The farm has 58 turbines, each 430 feet tall (which, in addition to electricity, generated a bit of controversy when approved), and was enabled by the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which aims for a 30 percent renewable share of the electricity market by 2015.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the largest project to start producing electricity last month was phase two of the Genesis Solar Energy Project in Riverside County, outside of Los Angeles in the sprawling Inland Empire. That array of solar panels can produce up to 125 megawatts of electricity, which will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric.
Zero coal, nuclear or oil capacity (or close to it, in the case of oil last year) was added in the first three months of either this year or last.
The Works is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.
Stephen J. Smith is a reporter based in New York. He has written about transportation, infrastructure and real estate for a variety of publications including New York Yimby, where he is currently an editor, Next City, City Lab and the New York Observer.
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