Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on March 12, 2015
U.S. Solar Generation Doubled in 2014, Renewable Output Grew 11%
New federal statistics out this week have shed more light on solar and wind energy’s emerging role in keeping the country’s lights on. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2014 saw non-hydro renewable energy generation increase by 11 percent over the previous year — and solar power led the charge in growth, if not in overall share of U.S. electricity supply.
According to EIA’s new Electric Power Monthly report (PDF), solar photovoltaic systems generated 15,874 gigawatt-hours of power last year, up from 8,121 gigawatt-hours in 2013. Solar thermal generation grew even faster, if from a smaller base, from 915 gigawatt-hours in 2013 to 2,447 gigawatt-hours in 2014.
But the EIA doesn’t track new generating systems smaller than 1 megawatt in size, meaning that the country’s share of solar PV last year is likely much higher if new distributed and rooftop solar were to be taken into account. GTM Research data shows that residential and commercial PV systems have accounted for the majority of new solar being installed through the previous year.
Solar PV’s share of electricity supply still lags far behind wind power, which generated 181,179 gigawatt-hours in 2014, up from 167,840 gigawatt-hours in 2013. But solar is growing much faster than wind power. Meanwhile, solar and wind power are leading all forms of renewable energy besides hydropower, including biomass, wood-derived fuels and landfill gas, to outpace hydropower as the country’s primary source of renewable energy, according to EIA projections.
Meanwhile, natural gas-fired generation actually dropped slightly last year, although new natural gas-fired power plants planned for construction in 2015 could reverse that trend. At the same time, new solar and wind power projects planned to come online this year far outnumber new gas-fired power plants, as this map from EIA’s report shows.
This year will also see the retirement of a large number of coal-fired power plants, a trend that will be accelerated by the passage of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Whether that rule will weaken the reliability of the electricity system or not is the subject of vigorous debate.
Solar still made up less than one-half percent, and wind power only 4.4 percent, of the country’s electricity mix last year. But the trends are clearly moving them into a far more important role — particularly in states such as California and Hawaii, where they’re starting to have a significant impact on how utilities and regulators are managing the power grid
16 Comments on "U.S. Solar Generation Doubled in 2014, Renewable Output Grew 11%"
Makati1 on Thu, 12th Mar 2015 8:55 pm
And also in last week’s news…
“US Clean Energy Companies Added Fewer Jobs In 2014, Signaling Slowdown In Sector’s Jobs Growth: Report”
“European offshore wind sector faces make-or-break 2020 -report”
“If solar has gotten so cheap, why isn’t there more of it?”
“Why Is Per Capita Energy Consumption at Recession Levels After Six Years of Recovery?”
“Cape Wind Dead in the Water?”
“Marubeni faces ship shortage, grid issues in offshore wind push” (Japan)
And on and on… http://ricefarmer.blogspot.fr/
Ability to consume is the limit for everything these days, including ‘renewables’. That ability is contracting steadily to 3rd world levels in the 1st world.
“Low wage jobs and the increase in non-working America grow”
“The Global War On Pensioners”
“The young, broke, and indebted American”
“Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 46,000,000 for 40 Straight Months”
Etc.
Davy on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 5:46 am
Too little too late and the percentage increase off of a small number. Insignificant and really sad. In any case for the transition build out all altE whatever can be built out instead of some Chinese ghost city with no future or some new American football dome stadium joke.
My point to the exceptionalist greens and AltE’ers be honest. You guys are smart so quit deceiving yourselves that AltE can break out of the fossil fuel economy and self-replicate. It can’t folks just like AI is a joke because it can’t. BAU is clearly dated if you analyze it from multiple scientific angles. Without BAU there is no green, no AltE, no progress, no technological exceptionalism to a shiny post carbon pseudo BAU.
There is a dirty, ugly, and painful transition to locust people scavenging a destroyed ecosystem with a destabilized climate. Get friggen real and honest. That is the toughest of human activities. It is hopim at its worst delusional form and we call it insanity.
I am not sure it matters because any road leads to a bottleneck though some roads are less severe. Some roads offer possibly more time. Adjusting your attitudes and prepping now buys you time for something that is no-linear and global hence unpredictable. Who knows how and when this will shake out but it will.
AltE in a localized, low cost, simple format is a winner. BAU AltE brought to you by the cornucopian exceptionalist is going to be useful for a short time in the descent while BAU self-destructs then it will be useful for salvage. Localized AltE has a future.
What can be more important than lights in the darkness of the long cold night. Yes, neighbors are going to come to you but maybe they bring you something in return for your light. I know we are going to see a mad-max-athon in many locations but not all. It is those location located right with some sustainability that have a chance for some stability.
So in conclusion you AltE’s, greenies, and techies are going to be humbled from your exceptionalism. Your hopium will be shattered and much valuable resources and prep time pissed away. Your ideas and goal are great but in theory not reality. Get with the picture boys. Quit the BAU delusions of progress and turn to the reality of descent. Do it now while there is still time.
Kenz300 on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 11:34 am
Wind and solar are the future……aging coal fired power plants are shutting down and being replaced by alternative energy sources.99 Per Cent Of
U.S. Solar Energy Industry Achieves Record-Shattering Year
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2015/03/u-s-solar-energy-industry-achieves-record-shattering-year
——————
99 Per Cent Of Sweden’s Garbage Is Now Recycled (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/09/02/sweden-recycling_n_5738602.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
green_achers on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 1:25 pm
From their figures, wind increased 14,349 GWH, solar increased 7,750 GWH, and yet solar “led the charge.” Damn poor reporting.
toms2 on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 2:08 pm
Hi Makati1,
We could probably go back and forth with cherry-picking good and bad news. However, the DOE just released an in-depth report today that wind power is on track to double in the next 5 years and supply 10% of electricity in the USA by 2020. They speculate it will supply 35% by 2050.
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/american-wind-power-is-expected-to-double-by-2020
-Tom S
Makati1 on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 8:22 pm
Tom, you actually believe that? I have a bridge for sale in Manhattan that has only a bit of wear, cheap.
Other than government/industry propaganda, I have seen nothing positive about wind or other ‘renewables’ in the US in a long time. The only way wind could supply 10% of US electric is if electric demand drops by a very huge amount. Not that wind increases by that amount.
Did you notice that the US is in a Depression? That investments in anything not extremely profitable is not going to happen? That total collapse is going to happen long before 2050 and probably before 2020, ending predatory capitalism and the Western way of life in the US?
Not that wind would not have been a good extender … 40 years ago, when we saw the problem. Even better is if we stopped producing all the electric wasters like the e-toys and appliances we do not need. But that is not going to happen until we can no longer afford to buy them. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you, by the way.
Look at ‘total systems’ and you will see my point.
dave thompson on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 10:34 pm
Green Tech Media is backed by GE, SIEMENS, AT&T, so yea we get it Greenwashing at its corporate finest. I am looking to wake the people up to the BAU idea of transition to sustainability and call it what it is BULLSHIT.
Apneaman on Fri, 13th Mar 2015 11:57 pm
One more time-won’t matter if wind or solar or cow farts N burps produce 100% more electricity if the delivery system is on it’s last legs and there is not enough money to upgrade it let alone do basic maintenance. Some money has been spent recently, but the red queen is almost out of breath…..permanently.
Aging US Power Grid Blacks Out More Than Any Other Developed Nation
http://www.ibtimes.com/aging-us-power-grid-blacks-out-more-any-other-developed-nation-1631086
toms2 on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 12:57 am
Hi Makati1,
“Tom, you actually believe that?”
Frankly, I think I believe the DOE more than peakoil.com.
“Other than government/industry propaganda, I have seen nothing positive about wind or other ‘renewables’ in the US in a long time.”
Really? I read positive things about renewables all the time. I read that solar and wind are advancing by leaps and bounds, that solar has declined in price by 80% over the last 5 years and that deployments of solar and wind are increasingly rapidly.
Not just the US either. In China, renewables are increasing at 20% yoy and now constitute almost 25% of electricity generation. In Germany, non-fossil sources of electricity are now almost 50%.
To be sure, this stuff is still in the early stages. In the US the “new renewables” of wind and solar are only a few percent of electricity generation (although increasing rapidly) and that’s just electricity. However, I don’t see how you could see that you’ve seen “nothing positive”.
Do you just interpret all that as “green propaganda”?
“Did you notice that the US is in a Depression?”
Actually, no. That’s not apparent at all where I live. Granted, I’ve lived in the SF Bay Area for most of my life. It’s a boom town right now, with cranes everywhere and money sloshing around.
The term “Depression” is not what I’d use to describe current economic conditions, here or anywhere outside of Greece for that matter.
-Tom S
toms2 on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 1:06 am
Hi Apneaman,
“One more time-won’t matter if wind or solar or cow farts N burps produce 100% more electricity if the delivery system is on it’s last legs and there is not enough money to upgrade it let alone do basic maintenance.”
Where are you getting this information? Why do you believe there wouldn’t be enough money to repair the electricity grid before collapse?
Only a very small fraction of the budget of the USA is spent on the electricity grid. I think we’d sacrifice other things before allowing the lights to go out permanently. Regardless of what kind of budgetary pressures we encounter.
“http://www.ibtimes.com/aging-us-power-grid-blacks-out-more-any-other-developed-nation-1631086”
I don’t see how that article supports your point at all. That article claims that upgrading the entire grid in the US would cost $400 billion or so, which is just over 2% of GDP for a single year and presumably would last for decades. I’m not saying the grid is going to be upgraded as much as recommended, because Americans seem to be comfortable with creaky infrastructure. But there is nothing in that article to support your claim that there isn’t enough money to keep the grid even functioning.
-Tom S
Apneaman on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 1:54 am
So your argument is – we could if we wanted to, but we like/are “comfortable” with ever increasing black outs – so there.
It’s not just the grid; it’s all of it and that bill is: Estimated Investment Needed by 2020: $3.6 Trillion
Report Card for America’s Infrastructure D+
[American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)]
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/
Apneaman on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 2:05 am
In addition to playing catch up from 35 years of bandage maintenance all infrastructure is going to take an ever increasing beating from climate change. Most of it was not engineered for that.
Infrastructure Threatened by Climate Change Poses a National Crisis
Whether it’s water or communication systems, infrastructure is ill prepared to keep functioning under changing climate conditions
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infrastructure-threatened-by-climate-change-poses-a-national-crisis/
Apneaman on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 2:06 am
Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we’re nearing collapse
Four decades after the book was published, Limit to Growth’s forecasts have been vindicated by new Australian research. Expect the early stages of global collapse to start appearing soon
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/limits-to-growth-was-right-new-research-shows-were-nearing-collapse
Apneaman on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 2:15 am
TomS, Uncle Sam has other priorities and is just not that good when it comes to the finances.
How DOD’s $1.5 Trillion F-35 Broke the Air Force
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101883138
Oops: US Close-Air Support Bomb Doesn’t Fit on the F-35
Plus, the F-35 won’t receive the necessary software for full close-air support until 2022
http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/oops-us-close-air-support-bomb-doesnt-fit-on-the-f35/
GregT on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 2:45 am
TomS,
Many people visit this site everyday for information. The vast majority do not post anything. Please include the link to your blog in your signature again.
Let those people see how completely out to lunch you really are.
Davy on Sun, 15th Mar 2015 7:35 am
The anti-Americans like to say how bad the US infrastructure is which is generalization, distortions, and agendist talk. The world is in the same boat so what are you comparing it too numb nuts? Come on anti-Americanas give we some examples of how great China’s infrastructure to no-where is. Or Germany’s failing attempt at an AltE nirvana. All cat piss agenda.
Tommy two you are so far up your ass in denial it stinks around here. There are no silver bullets coming out of the AltE crowd I can throw my hat in with. Many AltE’ers and AGW wonks are preaching the same denial that if only if we go low carbon and renewable we will be saved. I say cat piss to that hooey.
We need all AltE and we need AGW adaptation and mitigation but these policies are not going to save us and BAU. AltE’ers have not shown me how they are going to scale all this to save BAU then make the breakout to self-replication of AltE all the while running a shiny green and happy BAU. Folks you smell that smell? That is cat piss.
We are in a predicament with no solution get a grip and get out of denial. Embrace reality. Tommy two, AltE is profoundly important for the transition. AltE build out even the wrong kind is good. What we don’t need is more Chinese skyscrapers and American dome football stadiums. Talk about taking a page from the collapse of the Roman Empire with her coliseums. We have a short window to save billions we best step up to the table like men now. We need to quit acting like children in our fantasy playtime of BAUtopianism.