Of the 9,903 MW of new generating capacity from all sources installed since January 1, 2014, 34 units of wind accounted for 2,189 MW (22.10%),

By Katherine Steiner-Dicks

Wind power is increasing its time in the spotlight in recent weeks when it comes to new power generation in the US. Specifically, five wind farms in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas came on line last month, accounting for 574 MW of new capacity.

In addition, seven "units" of biomass (102 MW) and five units of solar (31 MW) came into service accounting for 12.16% and 3.69% of new capacity respectively. The balance came from three units of natural gas (132 MW - 15.73%).
Moreover, for the eighth time in the past ten months, renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) accounted for the majority of new U.S. electrical generation brought into service. Natural gas took the lead in the other two months (April and August), according to FERC.

Of the 9,903 MW of new generating capacity from all sources installed since January 1, 2014, 34 units of wind accounted for 2,189 MW (22.10%), followed by 208 units of solar - 1,801 MW (18.19%), 45 units of biomass - 241 MW (2.43%), 7 units of hydropower - 141 MW (1.42%), and 5 units of geothermal - 32 MW (0.32%). In total, renewables have provided 44.47% of new U.S. electrical generating capacity thus far in 2014.
The balance came from 45 units of natural gas - 5,373 MW (54.26%), 1 unit of nuclear - 71 MW (0.72%), 15 units of oil - 47 MW (0.47%), and 6 units of "other" - 7 MW (0.07%). There has been no new coal capacity added thus far in 2014. Thus, new capacity from renewable sources in 2014 is more than 37 times that from oil, coal, and nuclear combined.

"Congress is debating whether to renew the production tax credit for wind and other renewable energy sources," noted Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. "The continued rapid growth of these technologies confirms that the PTC has proven to be a very sound investment."

Renewable energy sources now account for 16.39% of total installed operating generating capacity in the U.S.: water - 8.44%, wind - 5.39%, biomass - 1.38%, solar - 0.85%, and geothermal steam - 0.33%. Renewable energy capacity is greater than that of nuclear (9.23%) and oil (3.97%) combined.