USA Expands RE Share Rapidly, Several Reports Mutually Agree

According to an analysis by the SUN DAY Campaign, three new reports released this week by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the United States of America all point to the same conclusion that renewable energy sources, led by solar and wind, continue to rapidly expand their share of the nation’s energy production and electricity generation.

Ken Bossong, Executive Director, SUN DAY Campaign, said, “Each new EIA study seems to draw the same conclusion – renewables are on a roll. Moreover, the rate at which they are expanding their share of the nation’s energy production and electrical generation appears to be accelerating.”

The Monthly Energy Review Report

The Monthly Energy Review report by EIA finds that during the first third of 2022, renewable energy sources that include biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind, accounted for 13.82% of total U.S. energy production for electricity, transportation, heating, feed-stocks, and other needs compared to 12.85% a year earlier.

The report finds that the renewable energy output for the first four months of 2022 was 14.03% higher than for the same period in 2021.

The Electric Power Monthly Report

This EIA report held that for the first five months of 2022, solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources provided 25.7% of U.S. electricity – more than either coal or nuclear power and up from 22.9% a year earlier. Solar and wind increased by 27.2% and 24.4% respectively while hydropower expanded by 9.0% and geothermal grew by 1.4%. Biomass and wood dropped by 4.16%.

EIA mentioned that all renewables combined provided nearly 50% more electricity than either coal or nuclear power in May. The mix of just solar and wind produced more electricity than coal and nearly tied nuclear power.

The Electricity Monthly Update Report

EIA reports that US shipments of solar photovoltaic modules increased by 21% to a record 26.3 million peak KW in 2021 up from 21.8 million peak KW in 2020. The US added 13.2 GW of utility-scale capacity, a record high and 25% more than 2020 capacity additions. Small-scale solar capacity installations increased by 5.4 GW in 2021, up 23% from 2020 installations.

EIA held that the battery storage capacity more than tripled in 2021, from 1,438 MW in 2020 to 4,631 MW in 2021.