From January through July of this year, wind and solar in the U.S. generated more net electricity than power from coal, according to recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
According to the EIA’s Monthly Energy Review for July 2024, electricity net generation from renewable energy outpaced coal for the first seven months of the year so far, a first for the U.S.
Further, wind energy generation alone beat coal energy generation in two consecutive months: March and April. As CleanTechnica reported, wind energy installations produced 45.9 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in March and a record high 47.7 GWh in April, compared to the 38.4 GWh in March and 37.2 GWh in April generated by coal-fired power plants.
grue@lemmy.world 5 months ago
A lot of that is because of production shifting from coal to natural gas, though. It’ll be news when solar + wind production exceeds all fossil fuel production put together.
marine_mustang@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
This is that year for California. Except for January, renewables produced more than fossil fuels. We’ll probably end with renewables producing more than fossil fuels for the whole year.
Anticorp@lemmy.world 5 months ago
California has some unique advantages that many other states don’t have. They have a lot of open land with constant sunshine, they have plenty of wind corridors, and they have several large rivers for daming.