Renewables account for 100% of Oct 2019 capacity additions in US

Wind turbines in Texas. Photo by: Xcel Energy (www.xcelenergy.com).

The US put into service 722 MW of new power generation capacity in October 2019 and all of it was renewable, shows the latest monthly report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The new additions include the 350-MW Foard City and 300-MW Ranchero wind farms in Texas, 59 MW of solar capacity, 10 MW of geothermal and 2 MW of biomass power.

In January-October 2019, natural gas accounted for slightly less than 50% of the 15,720 MW of newly commissioned power generation capacity in the country. Wind and solar followed with 4,488 MW and 2,923 MW, respectively.

In year-on-year terms, natural gas installations halved, wind grew by 26% while solar fell by 23%.

FERC’s report also contains information on proposed power capacity additions by October 2022. The table below contains data in megawatts (MW) for the main energy sources in the US.

Primary fuel type	Proposed additions	Proposed additions already under construction	Proposed retirements
Coal	77	0	14,226
Natural gas	57,864	30,735	9,249
Nuclear	5,896	1,100	5,951
Wind	96,305	29,837	330
Solar	96,530	19,464	1