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Don't Miss The Great Solar Debate: Where Does the Global Solar Industry Stand? ×

Top Ten U.S. States for Renewable Energy Installed Capacity

A look at the red, white and renewable.

Ysabel Yates, Contributor
October 12, 2012  |  9 Comments

The figures, the most current from the EIA, paint a picture of a grid in transition. Hydroelectric power represents almost 8 percent of the nation's overall capacity and is a mainstay, particular in Northern and Western states. But wind is creeping onto the grid in states like Texas and Iowa and now represents almost 4 percent. Solar is still less than 1 percent of the capacity but it too is gaining steadily.

With almost 133 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power, the U.S. currently has the largest installed capacity for non-hydroelectric sources in the world, followed by Germany. In 2035, the energy capacity of non-hydropower renewables in the U.S. is expected to double, according to EIA estimates.

Here, we take a look at the top ten states for renewable energy capacity to see what sources are the most popular in the United States, and which are up-and-coming.

1. Washington
Washington is the number one state for renewable energy, with a total installed capacity of 23.884 gigawatts (GW). Hydropower provides more than two-thirds of the state’s overall capacity and consumption while wind is becoming an increasingly important contributor to the grid, with 7.5 percent of the overall capacity.

2. California
With 16.460 GW of capacity, it’s not suprising that California has one of the largest and most balanced mixes of renewables, with hydro, geothermal and wind all making significant contributions to the grid. Solar, however, has only just begun to make a dent in that mix.

3. Oregon
Another northwestern state with a strong hydropower portfolio, Oregon has steadily been increasing its wind capacity in recent years. Biomass and landfill gas both make small contributions to the total capacity of 10.684 GW.

4. Texas
The Lone Star State has been adding wind capacity at a healthy clip and is the only state in the top five where hydro isn’t the number one renewable source. Wind power accounts for all but 1 GW of the 10.985 GW renewable capacity.

5. New York
The 6.033 GW of renewable capacity comes largely from hydropower in New York, followed by wind, landfill gas, and biomass.

6. Alabama
With 3.855 GW of capacity, hydropower and biomass make up Alabama’s renewable energy profile.

7. Iowa
With 3.728 GW of renewable energy capacity, Iowa is the only other state in the top ten to get most of its renewable energy from wind, then hydropower, landfill gas, and finally biomass.

8. Montana
With 3.085 GW of renewable capacity, hydropower and wind make up Montana’s renewable energy profile.

9. Idaho
Renewables make up almost 80 percent of the state’s capacity. The 3.140 GW comes largely from hydropower with a 352 megawatt contribution from wind.

10. Arizona
Finishing the list, Arizona has 2.901 GW of energy capacity, getting most of its renewable energy from hydropower, then biomass, wind, and solar.

This article was originally published on ecomagination and was republished with permission.

Lead image: Wind turbine via Shutterstock

9 Comments

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Daniel Ferra
Daniel Ferra
October 16, 2012
Norm, good for you. There are questions now with consumption and generation, the California Solar Surplus Act, California Solar Initiative, and the Utilities own solar programs will ask questions on generation to ensure that Ca. homeowners do not oversize their solar systems, after you check these programs out, do you now think there is no disapproval ? They want homeowners to get saving from energy efficient appliances and turning off the lights, with these programs in place they handcuff homeowners from fully participating in the Feed in Tariff and Ca. State mandate to generate 33% of our electricity from renewable energy by 2020.
Your getting paid 4 cents per kilowatt hour, homeowners in Japan and Germany are getting paid between 32-54 cents per kilowatt hour, do you wonder why ?
Norm Rhett
Norm Rhett
October 16, 2012
Daniel, we got $173.63 from PG&E in January. We have had net metering since the system went live in 2009. Other than a spurious warning that we have no electricity service there has been no sign of disapproval. Nobody ever questioned our past consumption or present over generation.
Timothy Baye
Timothy Baye
October 16, 2012
Seriously, EIA once again shows a bias in reporting. Renewable thermal has long been a mainstay in natural resource manufacturing. Factor in paper industry hog boilers, digesters at WWTS, cheese and food processing. Electrical power is not the only game in town
Daniel Ferra
Daniel Ferra
October 15, 2012
Peter, what your thinking is wrong, AB 920 California Solar Surplus Act. states that when a homeowner install solar panels, California requires that it be just big enough to generate the amount of power needed for that home. A Ca. Lic. contractor will not oversize your solar system as a rule they go with 80% usage, the Utility in your area will not hook it up to the grid, what happens to your electric bill if you decide to purchase an electric vehicle ? You are not in jail, but are handcuffed by the law that does not allow California home owners to oversize their solar systems to participate in the Ca Feed in Tariff, and the State mandated 33% renewable energy by 2020
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
October 15, 2012
I don't think it is true that "California law does not allow home owners to size their Solar systems larger than what they use. ".
I received a letter from PG&E in February 2012, that said with the implementat5ion of AB920, all NEM (net metering) customers who generate more clean energy than they consume on an annual basis qualify for Net Surplus Compensation. No mention of going to jail.
And the "once a year" issue also can obtain with Net Metering, where one option is to pay a certain amount each month, and true the result up once a year (February for me). I don't do that, so our bill goes up in the winter months where we generate less than we use, and there is a minimum charge we pay in those months where we generate more than we use, but it is small. I think, if our net annual generation was greater than our usage, I would be happy with a once a year payment.
My biggest disappointment with my electric bill is that I am only paying $0.01 for "Nuclear Decommissioning" each month. I would be happy to pay more, and speed that up!
Daniel Ferra
Daniel Ferra
October 15, 2012
To sign above petition go to Facebook, Daniel Ferra, Palm Springs
Ca. Thank you.
Daniel Ferra
Daniel Ferra
October 15, 2012
California law does not allow home owners to size their Solar systems larger than what they use.
In order to get the California Solar Initiative (CSI) rebate the customer is not allowed to install a system that inherently over produces
The Feed in Tariff can not be used if you receive a rebate from your Utility for Solar panels or if your participating in other Utility Solar incentives programs or the CSI, it also can not be used if you are receiving net metering.
AB 920 California Solar Surplus Act, net metering, who would accept getting paid one time a year ?
Our FIT should mirror Germany and Japan, where residential FIT is 30 cents - 50 cents per kwh.
The 4 cents per kwh currently to be administered and the one time a year payment is not adequate and removes our own citizens from participating in our struggle to reduce green house gases, the California Public Utility commission can change the FIT to 25 cents per kwh, and distribute the solution to all tax paying citizens, who should not be deliberately handcuffed.
Ca. resident who purchase an electric vehicle can expect a 60% increase in there electric bill, research from a study done by Purdue University in summer of 2010
Residential home owners, should be allowed to participate in the State mandated goal, to achieve 33% renewable energy by 2020.
Due to these laws, we have automatically taken out over 8 million roof tops, that would generate over 11,500MW of power, thats 5 San Onofre nuclear power plants.
We need to let our tax paying, home owning citizens in on a Feed in Tariff that pays 25 cents per kwh.
In the spirit of Bill McKibben and 350.org for our children and eaarth, lets make real global sustaining changes for all of us.
ANONYMOUS
October 13, 2012
For sure a better metric would be something like renewable energy produced in the state versus the total energy used by the state. The energy used should be from all activities, including electrical power production and transportation. While some states like California have a relatively large amount of wind and solar capacity, they still also import huge amounts of electricity and transportation fuels.
FRANK ELIOT
FRANK ELIOT
October 13, 2012
This is an interesting article, but installed capacity is not the most relevant measure of wind power penetration. I would find it much more interesting to read an article in this format that ranked sources by (KWH/whatever) that was delivered to the grid. This seems to me to be the only measure that tells us what the relative penetration of renewable sources really is. Many renewable sources are intermittent, especially solar and wind, so that the nameplate installed capacity, which I presume are the numbers the author was using, do not tell us much.

Also, an article dealing with the ratio of average kilowatts generated divided by the nameplate power rating for wind and maybe solar, listed by state or wind farm, would be quite interesting. I have been a fan of wind for years, but don't want it to be oversold.

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