Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix

Re:Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix by blix on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @10:10PM (#20281274)

I dug a little deeper into the EIA reports and their non-hydro renewables category is almost 90% wind. Wind and hydro alone are almost even with coal in April, with the other contributions being quite small.

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Re:Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix by chrisco255 on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @11:12PM (#20281566)

There is a huge wind power boom in north Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. I saw thousands of windmills driving through there a couple months ago, and must have passed two dozen semis loaded up with blades to build more. It's a sight to see.

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Re:Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix by Robotbeat on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @10:37PM (#20281407)

Solar (if you include non-utility solar) was about 3.5% of the total electricity produced in April. That's actually pretty significant. Solar only scraped 1 percent starting in 2015.

(Although I worry about the second derivative... solar's growth is not as impressive in the last 12 months as it was the 12 months prior.)

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Re:Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix by Spooky23 on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @01:38AM (#20282175)

Solar punches higher than its weight because it produces marginal electricity at times of peak demand.

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Re:Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix by Gibbon1 on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @05:14AM (#20283201)

Yeah people compare solar pricing to subsidized baseload prices. Which is unfavorable. Instead of the more lucrative peeking plant pricing which is higher. Often a lot higher.

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