The 2015 Renewable Energy Data Book shows that US renewable electricity grew to 16.7 per cent of total installed capacity and 13.8 per cent of total electricity generation during the past year. The 2015 Renewable Energy Data Book compiles recently available statistics for the 2015 calendar year.
Key insights include:
- Renewable electricity accounted for 64 per cent of US electricity capacity additions in 2015, compared to 52 per cent in 2014.
- Renewable electricity generation increased 2.4 per cent in 2015. Solar electricity generation increased by 35.8 per cent (11.7 terawatt-hours), and wind electricity generation increased by 5.1 per cent (9.3 terawatt-hours), while generation from hydropower dropped by 3.2 per cent (-8.2 terawatt-hours).
- The combined share of wind and solar as a percentage of renewable generation continued to grow in the U.S. in 2015. Hydropower produced more than 44 per cent of total renewable electricity generation, wind produced 34 per cent, biomass produced 11 per cent, solar (photovoltaic and concentrating solar power) produced 8 per cent, and geothermal produced 3 per cent.
- Wind electricity installed capacity increased by more than 12 per cent (8.1GW) in a year, accounting for more than 56 per cent of US renewable electricity capacity installed in 2015.
- US solar electricity installed capacity increased by 36 per cent (5.6GW), accounting for nearly 40 per cent of newly installed U.S. renewable electricity capacity in 2015.
The 2015 Renewable Energy Data Book is produced by NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center.