According to the latest data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) provided close to 23% of the US electrical generation during the first three-quarters of 2022.
The report states that in the first nine months of 2022, renewable energy sources increased their electrical output by 15.44% compared to the same period in 2021. Year-to-date, renewable energy sources have accounted to 22.66% of total U.S. electrical generation in comparison to 20.33% a year earlier.
Electrical generation by wind power increased by 18.64% and provided 9.75% of total electrical generation. Solar power increased by 25.68% and provided 5.01% of the nation’s electrical output. Hydropower increased by 7.98% and accounted for 6.29% of the total and geothermal increased by 6.95%.
According to these numbers during the first three-quarters of 2022, renewable energy sources significantly out-produced both coal and nuclear power by 15.52% and 28.25%.
However, EIA’s report also suggests that renewable energy’s strong growth this year may slow down during the last third of 2022.
In September, electrical generation by solar grew by 21.02% and geothermal increased by 5.1% compared to September 2021. On the other hand, generation by wind dropped by 6.81% as did that by hydropower (down 1.14%) and biomass/wood (down 4.57%). Combining these, electrical output by renewable energy sources was just 1.45% higher than a year ago and because electrical generation by all sources increased, renewables’ share in September was nearly unchanged from a year earlier (19.18% vs. 19.14%).