November 6 (Solar) – A bit over 700 MW of large-scale wind and solar farms became operational in the US in the month of September, with no other sources adding any capacity for the month.
In the first nine months of the year, meanwhile, natural gas was the leader in terms of new additions with 12.11 GW, followed by solar with 3.04 GW and wind with 2.75 GW.
The 200-MW Persimmon Creek Wind Farm in Oklahoma, a 160-MW wind farm by Rattlesnake Power LLC in Texas, and the 182-MW Midway Solar park in Texas were the biggest renewable energy facilities to go into service in September, according to the latest report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The table below contains details on new and cumulative capacity for the country’s main energy sources, and proposed additions and retirements by October 2021.
| New capacity in MW |
Sept 2018 |
9-mo 2018 |
9-mo 2017 |
Cumulative |
Additions by Oct 2021 |
Retirements by Oct 2021 |
| Wind |
363 |
2,747 |
4,615 |
91,670 |
89,880 |
50 |
| Solar |
339 |
3,043 |
3,450 |
34,630 |
61,623 |
2 |
| Hydro |
0 |
33 |
215 |
100,490 |
14,896 |
633 |
| Biomass |
0 |
66 |
265 |
16,260 |
593 |
124 |
| Geothermal steam |
0 |
21 |
18 |
3,790 |
1,076 |
0 |
| Coal |
0 |
10 |
0 |
268,170 |
17 |
19,255 |
| Natural gas |
0 |
12,110 |
11,100 |
522,590 |
79,351 |
11,945 |
| Nuclear |
0 |
4 |
102 |
107,660 |
8,021 |
8,040 |
| TOTAL |
702 |
18,137 |
20,039 |
1,189,090 |
256,971 |
40,215 |
The full FERC report is available at https://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2018/sep-energy-infrastructure.pdf.
