Renewable sources of energy accounted for 23.8% of power generation in the US in December 2021. Solar energy contributed 2.7%, while wind energy contributed 11.9%, Clean Techinica reports.
This is a significant increase over December 2019 and December 2020. Renewable energy accounted for 17.5%, wind-generated energy for 7.8%, and solar power for 1.6% in December 2019. They have improved to 19.4 percent, 9.2%, and 2.2%, respectively, by December 2020.
Nuclear and coal both provided more power than renewables in December 2019 and December 2020.
Renewable sources had surpassed both of them in December 2021 and had a comfortable lead — 23.8% of electricity versus 20.6% for nuclear power plants and 17.5% for coal electric plants.
Notably, hydropower output increased at that time period as well. It increased from 6.3% 2019 to 7.5% in December 2021, up from 6.2% 2019 and 6.2% in December 2020.
Solar and wind power make up the majority of the renewables, accounting for 13% of total US energy output in 2021, up from 9.7% in 2019 and 11.6% in 2020.
Renewable sources already crossed the coal and nuclear crossing points in 2020, but the bad news is that they fell slightly below coal’s level in 2020 — 21% vs 21.6%.
Renewable energy sources, notably solar and wind energy, currently account for the majority of new power generation in the US. They do not, however, control the majority of the country’s electrical generation.