SUN DAY CAMPAIGN
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Brief News Update
WIND AND SOLAR PROVIDE 100%
OF ALL NEW ELECTRICAL GENERATING CAPACITY IN JANUARY
RENEWABLES CROSS ANOTHER THRESHOLD:
NOW ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN ONE-FIFTH
OF NATION’S INSTALLED GENERATING CAPACITY
For Release: Wednesday – March 14, 2018
Contact: Ken Bossong, 301-270-6477 x.6
Washington DC – According to an analysis by the SUN DAY Campaign of data in the latest issue of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) “Energy Infrastructure Update” (with numbers through January 31, 2018),wind and solar accounted for all new electrical generation placed into service in the first month of this year.
Moreover, for the first time, the total installed capacity of renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) has surpassed a milestone — accounting for over one-fifth (i.e., 20.39%) of total available U.S. generating capacity. Combined, wind and solar alone now exceed one-tenth (i.e., 10.18%) of installed capacity. **
FERC data show that 12 new “units” of wind, totaling 1,230 megawatts (MW), came into service in January 2018 along with 11 units of solar (356-MW) for a total of 1,586-MW.
That is slightly more than the combined solar + wind total a year ago (i.e., January 2017) when 909-MW of wind and 623-MW of solar came on-line. However, then, there were also 1,454-MW of new gas capacity, 102-MW of new nuclear, and 1-MW each of new oil and biomass capacity. In January2018, no new coal, gas, oil, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, or hydropower capacity was reported.
The new wind capacity includes the 300-MW Red Dirt Wind Project (Kingfisher County, OK), 229-MW Magic Valley Wind Project (Willacy County, TX), 200-MW Red Pine Wind Project (Lincoln County, MN), and the 197-MW Bearkat Renewable Energy Project (Glasscock County, TX). The new solar capacity includes four new Florida Power & Light solar farms in Florida, each comprising 75-MW.