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I think you're reading it wrong: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_es1b http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grap
by melling 10y ago
I think you're reading it wrong:
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_es1b http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm...
Natural gas: 1,087,236 1,011,464 7.5%
Solar: 28,058 19,684 42.5%
A lot more natural gas came online than solar. The solar percentage is so high because it's an increase over a much smaller number.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoEDIT: I included natural gas in the total generation mix. That's my mistake. I don't discount additional natural gas coming online; that's a good thing. It throttles faster than nuclear and coal, and produces far less CO2 than coal generation. Natural gas is almost a requirement as renewables scale up until batteries for utility scale storage have dropped in price to be competitive. This is already happening: Tesla is contracting with several utilities to replace their natural gas peaker plants with battery storage substations. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25172 http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25172 "Electric generating facilities expect to add more than 26 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale generating capacity to the power grid during 2016. Most of these additions come from three resources: solar (9.5 GW), natural gas (8.0 GW), and wind (6.8 GW), which together make up 93% of total additions. If actual additions ultimately reflect these plans, 2016 will be the first year in which utility-scale solar additions exceed additions from any other single energy source."
- melling 10y agoUnited States 1,068.4 Gigawatt It doesn't make sense to include natural gas. We added 15GW of renewable energy to our 1068 GW. We really need to do a lot better. Your optimism is unfounded.