Over the last few years, the US has had an increment in the share of electricity generated by renewable energy resources, from circa 10.6% in 2010 to 19.5% in 2020. This increment is mainly driven by the installation of new wind and solar development which have seen an increase from 95.86TWh (terawatt hour) (94.65TWh wind and 1.21TWh solar) to 427.14 TWh (337.94TWh wind 89.20TWh solar) [1].
Figure 1: Offshore wind farm.
Further Expansion of Renewables
Due to the addition of new solar and wind capacity in 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that renewable energy will cover 22% of the US electricity needs ahead of coal (20%) and behind gas (38%). The share of electricity produced via renewable energy is predicted to increase to 24% in 2023 with gas and coal declining to 36% and 19% respectively [2].
Despite the recent improvements researchers are still worried that the US will not meet it climate goals. To do so, the US will have to increase the deployment of new wind and solar developments. In the next two years the US will have to install at least 50GW of new renewable capacity. To put this figure into context, the amount of renewable capacity installed in 2020 and 2021 was 25GW [3].
About Pager Power
Pager Power undertakes technical assessments for developers of renewable energy projects and tall buildings. For more information about what we do, please get in touch.
References
[1] Electricity in the United States is produced (generated) with diverse energy sources and technologies, eia, date: 15/07/2022, accessed on: 27/11/2022.
[2] SHORT-TERM ENERGY OUTLOOK, eia, date: 08/11/2022, accessed on: 27/11/2022.
[3] Renewable energy to overtake coal in US for first ever time this year, Anthony Cuthbertson, date: 23/11/2022, accessed on: 27/11/2022.
