More solar, wind power installed than natural gas last year
The renewable energy industry took big strides across the board last year, and both solar power and wind power led the way with big gains.
Both solar and wind power saw a bigger jump in production than natural gas in 2015, as 8.5GW of new wind power was connected to the grid and 7.3GW of solar was connected. Approximately 6.0GW of natural gas power was connected in 2015.
US installed more solar power than gas in 2015 https://t.co/eECvCCzpFd
— PV-Tech (@pv_tech) February 4, 2016
Year-over-year increases
New wind power builds grew 65 percent over 2014 levels, while new solar power builds increased 13 percent year over year.
According to a recent report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), improvements in renewably-sourced energy from 2005 to 2015 have resulted in the “lowest yearly carbon emissions produced by the U.S. power sector since 1995.”
Natural gas also making gains
Despite being overshadowed by the growth of solar power in 2015, natural gas also gained in the overall energy picture in the U.S. Natural gas accounted for 32 percent of all U.S. electricity generation in 2015.
Coal accounted for 34 percent last year, so natural gas is now within striking distance of taking over the number one seat.
Source → BCSE & BNEF
