Just 23 MW of large-scale solar parks and zero megawatts of wind farms were put in service in the US in April, while natural gas plants accounted for 99% of the month's 2.7 GW of new capacity.
The first four months of the year saw the start up of 7 GW of new power capacity, including nearly 2 GW of wind, 1.5 GW of solar and 3.4 GW of natural gas, according to the latest report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Details on new and cumulative capacity by source, as well as proposed additions and retirements by May 2021, can be seen in the table.
All in MW |
4-mo 2018 |
4-mo 2017 |
Cumulative |
Additions by May 2021 |
Retirements by May 2021 |
Wind |
1,956 |
3,281 |
90,950 |
91,049 |
68 |
Solar |
1,495 |
1,801 |
32,920 |
52,218 |
2 |
Biomass |
3 |
110 |
16,520 |
706 |
50 |
Geothermal steam |
19 |
18 |
3,850 |
1,115 |
0 |
Water |
19 |
12 |
100,800 |
12,558 |
554 |
Natural gas |
3,397 |
5,166 |
515,470 |
85,686 |
14,589 |
Nuclear |
4 |
102 |
108,180 |
6,363 |
5,607 |
Coal |
0 |
0 |
273,300 |
912 |
16,810 |
Oil |
10 |
7 |
42,040 |
744 |
482 |
TOTAL |
6,988 |
10,718 |
1,186,160 |
252,127 |
38,152 |
The full FERC report is available at https://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2018/apr-energy-infrastructure.pdf.
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