California and Texas continue to break new ground in making electricty generation from renewable sources a vital part of the United States’ energy mix.
California, for its part, is following up on the huge year solar energy had in 2013 by breaking the record for single-day solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generation back in March, and then breaking its own record on June 1. The new record in California — 4,767 Megawatts of utility-scale solar PV energy fed into the grid in one day — is the national record, as well.
California installed some 2,261 MW of solar capacity in 2013, more than any other state, and looks to be on track to post up even bigger numbers this year. PV Magazine reports that “California’s solar footprint is growing bigger with each passing day, week and month, with May recording three times as much solar generation as recorded during the same month in 2013.”
Texas may seem like a strange bedfellow for California when it comes to the mainstreaming of energy sources that aren’t oil, but the Lone Star State set a new record for itself on March 26 when 10.2 GW, nearly a third of the state’s electricity generation that day, came from the wind. State regulators don’t expect that record to last long, either.
These two examples point to a clear trend of renewable energy scaling up nationwide in blue states and red states alike.
In the first quarter of 2014, solar accounted for more than 50% of all new electricity generation capacity installed in the US, some 584 MW, with new solar power plants going online in California, Massachussetts, North Carolina, and Texas.
Wind came in second at 427 MW. Natural gas came in third at 90 MW.
Photo by Willtron via Wikimedia Commons
