{"id":81108,"date":"2025-03-12T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=81108"},"modified":"2025-03-12T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T04:01:00","slug":"in-a-historic-first-wind-and-solar-combined-overtake-coal-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=81108","title":{"rendered":"In a historic first, wind and solar combined overtake coal\u00a0in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\"Solar
\n\t\t\t\tPhoto by Amol Mande on Pexels.com<\/a>\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the US in 2024, wind and solar accounted for 17%<\/a> of total electricity generation, surpassing coal, which fell to a record low of 15%, according to a new report from global energy think tank Ember.<\/p>\n

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Since US coal power peaked in 2007, wind and solar have overtaken coal in 24 states, with Illinois the latest to join the ranks in 2024, following Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Maryland in 2023, the report finds. It\u2019s the first analysis of full-year US electricity data, which was published by the EIA on February 26<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After being stagnant for 14 years, electricity demand started rising in recent years and saw a 3% increase in 2024, marking the fifth-highest level of rise this century. The increase in demand and fall in coal was met with higher solar, wind, and gas generation. Natural gas grew\u00a0three times more than the decline in coal, increasing power sector CO2 emissions slightly (0.7%). Coal fell by the second smallest amount since 2014, as gas and clean energy growth met rising electricity demand, whereas historically, they have replaced coal.<\/p>\n

Despite growing emissions, the carbon intensity of electricity continued to decline. The rise in power demand was much faster than the rise in power sector CO2 emissions, making each unit of electricity likely the cleanest it has ever been.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Solar grew faster than natural gas<\/h2>\n

Solar generation rose by 64 TWh in 2024, compared to natural gas, which rose 59 TWh. It remained the fastest-growing source of electricity, with its generation rising by 27% in 2024, surpassing hydropower generation for the time. It made up 81% of all new annual power capacity additions in the US. Gas added no net capacity, as new plants were offset with closures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

California and Nevada both surpassed 30% annual share of solar in their electricity mix for the first time (32% and 30%, respectively). California\u2019s battery growth was key to its solar success. It installed 20% more battery capacity than it did solar capacity, which helped it transfer a significant share of its daytime solar to the evening. Texas installed more solar (7.4 GW) and battery capacity (3.9 GW) than even California. Yet the growth of solar was uneven \u2013 28 states generated less than 5% of their electricity from solar in 2024, highlighting significant untapped potential \u2013 even before adding battery storage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As solar grew massively, wind saw a modest 7% increase in generation, adding the least capacity in 10 years.\u00a0However, it still generated 50% more power than solar in 2024, making 10% of the US electricity mix.<\/p>\n

Solar and wind can meet rising demand<\/h2>\n

With the adoption of EVs, air conditioning, heat pumps, and rapid expansion of data centers, demand for electricity is guaranteed to grow in the coming years.<\/p>\n

To meet the rise in demand, clean generation needs to grow faster. Unlike solar, wind\u2019s growth has been slow. Clean energy is able to meet rising electricity demand alone \u2013 without raising bills, sacrificing security of supply, or further relying on gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the demand remained unchanged for years, solar, wind, and gas together worked to replace coal, transforming the US electricity system,\u201d Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember, said. \u201cBut now that electricity demand is rising fast, the battle is between solar and gas to meet this. And solar is winning \u2013 it added more generation than gas in 2024, and batteries will ensure that solar can grow more cheaply and quickly than gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daan Walter, principal at Ember, said, \u201cElectricity demand is rising as new uses emerge across the US economy, from data centers to transportation and heating. This makes the case for solar and wind today even stronger \u2013 they are not only fast to deploy and cheap but also help stabilize energy costs in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out<\/em> <\/em>EnergySage<\/em><\/a>, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it\u2019s free to use and you won\u2019t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you\u2019ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started<\/em> <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. \u2013trusted affiliate link*<\/em><\/p>\n

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FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.<\/em> More.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Amol Mande on Pexels.com In the US in 2024, wind and solar accounted for 17% of total electricity generation, surpassing coal, which fell to a record low of 15%, according to a new report from global energy think tank Ember. Since US coal power peaked in 2007, wind and solar have overtaken coal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}