Western states set the nation's renewable energy bar
September 23, 2013 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
The Western United States is setting the bar high when it comes to renewable energy, according to the American Council on Renewable Energy's (ACORE) Western Region Report, setting a lead that other regions should follow. "For well over a decade, the individual states -- in conjunction with the federal government -- have been leading the way in all renewable energy innovation, exploration, investment, and increasing equal market access. In no part of the U.S. is this truer than in the West," said Michael Brower, ACORE's interim president and CEO. "With strong renewable portfolio standards (RPS), the political will to protect and/or expand them, and the nearly half of 2012's new build asset finance for renewable energy, the West is far and away in the national renewable energy vanguard. America needs all the states in our three other regions to quickly follow their lead." With RPS driving growth in the 13 Western states, nine of which have binding mandates for renewable energy production, many with minimums for certain distributed generation technologies and/or solar energy, in 2012 the West produced approximately 31 percent of its total energy generation from renewable energy sources compared to 12 percent nationally. According to the Western Region Report, nearly all existing renewable energy technologies are well-suited for deployment in the region, including solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal, marine, and a wide assortment of biofuels. The West benefits from some of the best solar resources in the country, responsible for roughly 65 percent of the nation's solar photovoltaic capacity and 86 percent of the nation's solar thermal electric capacity. The Western region is responsible for about 63 percent of the nation's installed hydropower capacity, and that hydropower accounts for about 25 percent of the region's electricity generation. The country's utility-scale geothermal power projects are found exclusively in this region. Finally, wind power projects have been built in every Western state. In fact, California and Oregon rank in the top five states for wind power capacity. For more: Sign up for our FREE newsletter for more news like this sent to your inbox! © 2013 FierceMarkets. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com
http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/western-states-set-nations-renewable-energy-bar/2013-09-23 |