The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). According to the findings, non-hydropower renewables provided slightly less than 10% of electricity generation in 2017 and are expected to provide about 10% in both 2018 and 2019.
Wind expected to surpass hydro as largest renewable electricity generation source.
Wind generated an estimated 691,000 megawatt-hours per day (MWh/d) of electricity in 2017. EIA projects that generation from wind will rise to an average of 705,000 MWh/d in 2018 and 765,000 MWh/d in 2019. If project conditions hold, generation from conventional hydropower is projected to average 730,000 MWh/d in 2019, which would make it the first year that wind generation exceeds hydropower generation.
EIA also projects that total solar electricity generation will increase from an estimated average of 209,000 MWh/d in 2017 to 240,000 MWh/d in 2018 and to 287,000 MWh/d in 2019.
In addition, after declining by 0.8% in 2017, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are projected to increase by 1.8% in 2018 and by 0.4% in 2019. Energy-related CO2 emissions are sensitive to changes in weather, economic growth, and energy prices.
The full STEO can be downloaded here.
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