The 2016 Data Book Shows Continued Growth of Renewable Electricity

The 2016 Renewable Energy Data Book shows that US renewable electricity grew to 18.3% of total installed capacity and 15.6% of total electricity generation in 2016. Published annually by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on behalf of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Renewable Energy Data Book presents US and global energy statistics compiled from numerous data sources, and includes renewable electricity generation, renewable energy development, clean energy investments, and technology-specific data.
 
The 2016 Renewable Energy Data Book also summarizes renewable energy trends in the US and globally with graphics and data-centric charts for wind, solar, biopower, renewable fuels and more.
 
The Renewable Energy Data Book, published at the end of 2017, compiles the latest available statistics for the 2016 calendar year. Key insights include:
 
• Renewable electricity accounted for 67% of US electricity capacity additions in 2016, compared to 64% in 2015.
• Renewable electricity generation increased 13.5% in 2016. • Solar electricity generation increased by 52.1% (23.3 terawatt-hours), wind electricity generation increased by 18.8% (35.8 terawatt-hours), and hydropower generation increased by 6.7% (16.7 terawatt-hours).
• The combined share of wind and solar generation (294 terawatt-hours) continued to grow in the U.S in 2016, exceeding hydropower generation (266 terawatt-hours) for the first time. Hydropower produced nearly 42% of total renewable electricity generation, wind produced more than 35%, solar (photovoltaic and concentrating solar power) produced nearly 11%, biopower produced nearly 10%, and geothermal produced nearly 3%.
• Wind electricity installed capacity increased by more than 11% (8.1 gigawatts) in the year, accounting for more than 40% of US renewable electricity capacity installed in 2016.
• US solar electricity installed capacity increased by 52%, accounting for nearly 57% of newly installed US renewable electricity capacity in 2016.
• In 2016, California continued with the most installed renewable electricity capacity of any US state (nearly 35 gigawatts), followed by Washington (nearly 25 gigawatts) and Texas (more than 22 gigawatts). California has a diverse mix of renewables led by solar photovoltaic, hydropower and wind. In Washington, the main contributor to renewable capacity is hydropower, while wind is the largest contributor in Texas.
• Installed renewable electricity capacity increased to 31% of total electricity capacity worldwide in 2016. Renewables accounted for nearly 26% of all electricity generation worldwide.
• US corn ethanol production, which is the largest globally, increased by nearly 3.7% to 15 billion gallons in 2016.
• Alternative fueling stations in the US increased by nearly 18% in 2016 to a total of more than 27,000 stations.
• In 2016, global fuel cell shipments topped 516 megawatts, a 73% increase from 2015 and mostly due to transportation fuel cell shipments.