New Clean Energy Projects Dominate Power Growth

In 2015, new clean energy power generation capacity hooked to the U.S. power grid accounted for 68% of all new added capacity. Of a total of 23,500 megawatts of new generation, 16,000 came from clean energy projects.

New wind farms added 8,500 megawatts as developers raced to beat the expected expiration of a federal tax credit due at the end of 2016. Solar PV projects added 7,300 megawatts in 2015. As part of the budget deal struck by the U.S. Congress in December, federal tax credits have been extended through 2021.

The data were published Thursday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy in the 2016 edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook.

Last year 5% of the country’s installed coal capacity was retired, and since 2005 40,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation has been taken down and less than half that, 19,000 megawatts, has been newly built. Coal now provides just 34% of U.S. electricity generation, down from 50% in 2005. In 2015 natural gas accounted for 32% of electric power generation, and a recent report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that over the past five months natural gas-fired generation has replaced coal as the top fuel for power generation.
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The BNEF researchers also reported that the cost of electricity to consumers is not rocketing higher:

Importantly, surging renewables build and coal retirements have not triggered a dramatic leap in retail power prices. Average retail electricity rates across the country remain 5.8% below the recent peak (2008) in real terms, in part due to cheap generation from natural gas. Year on year, retail rates in 2015 fell 1.3% in real terms, even as real GDP grew by 2.4%.

BNEF also reported that carbon emissions from the U.S. power sector totaled 1,985 million metric tons in 2015, the lowest total since 1995; 4.3% below 2014 emissions levels and 17.8% below 2005 emissions.

The full BNEF report is available here.