EIA: Wind and Solar To Dominate New US Power Capacity this year

This is happening faster than most imagined and finally being driven by efficiency improvements and full-cost-savings.  This is what productive investment looks like. See Wind, Solar to dominate new US Power Capacity this year:

Wind and solar power will dominate the electricity generation additions across the United States in 2020, accounting for an overwhelming 76 percent of all new capacity set to begin commercial operation this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday.

Wind will be the main source of new capacity additions, followed by solar and natural gas, according to EIA’s latest inventory of electric generators. New wind capacity additions will account for 44 percent of all U.S. electric capacity additions in 2020. Solar power will account for 32 percent of additions and natural gas additions will represent 22 percent of all new U.S. capacity. The remaining 2 percent will come from hydroelectric generators and battery storage, EIA’s estimates show.

…Coal will lead the capacity retirements this year, as it did last year, when for one month, April, renewables held a larger share than coal in U.S. monthly electricity generation, for the first time ever.

In 2020, a total of 51 percent of scheduled capacity retirements will be coal-fired, followed by natural gas with 33 percent and nuclear with 14 percent, EIA’s data shows.

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