Renewable Solar and Wind Generating New Production Records

(WASHINGTON, DC) Renewable generation in the United States provided a new record of 742 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity in 2018, nearly double the amount produced in 2008. Renewables provided nearly 18 percent of all electricity generation in the United States last year. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), almost 90 percent of the increase in renewables came from wind and solar generation. Wind generation increased from 55 million MWh in 2008 to 275 million MWh in 2018. Solar generation has increased from 2 million MWh in 2008 to 96 million MWh in 2018 and accounts for 2.3 percent of total capacity. Last year, 69 percent of solar generation was utility-scale solar. Growth in renewable technologies, particularly in wind and solar, has been driven by federal and state policies and declining costs. Federal policies such as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 and the Production Tax Credit (PTC) have spurred project development.