Nine Gigawatts of Wind Turbines Were Added Last Year in the US
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
Nine gigawatts of wind turbines were added last year in the US:
Earlier this year in the US, energy generation from wind, solar, and hydroelectric dams combined to top coal generation for over two months straight. This was the product of spring peaks in renewable generation and reduced electrical demand during lockdowns, but those events were layered on top of coal's continuing decline and the long-term growth of renewables. A new report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory looks back at 2019-what is now known as the Before Times-to tally up year-end totals for the wind industry.
[...] a little over nine gigawatts of wind capacity was added last year-slightly more than in each of the four previous years. Wind accounts for about one-third of all new generation added in 2019, and it ticked up to seven percent of all electricity generated in the US.
[...] The trend toward bigger wind turbines continued, with the average capacity of a turbine built last year reaching 2.55 megawatts. The height of the tower on which the turbine sits has risen over time-now averaging 90 meters-but the bigger factor is longer blades. Average rotor diameter was 120 meters, up from closer to 80 meters a decade ago.
[...] Costs, meanwhile, continue to tick down from a 2010 peak, reaching about $850 per kilowatt for turbines and $1,400 per kilowatt on the project scale. That brings the average cost of electricity produced from wind to $36 per megawatt-hour. Wind has maintained its cost lead over natural gas electricity, although solar electricity has caught up in the last few years.
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