Renewables Lead The Way Stateside
The United States renewables market continues to flourish with convincing deployment figures in 2018 so far, according to the SEIA and GTM (Solar Energy Industries Association and GreenTech Media Research, respectively).
Sun Shining on Solar Deployment
Q1 2018 has seen an impressive 2.5GW deployment of new PV alone, marking a 13% year-over-year increase. Further, the quarter saw 55% of all new electric generating capacity brought online coming from PV, the second consecutive quarter in which PV has taken the lion’s share of new capacity additions. GTM Research forecasts a flat growth in 2018 vs. 2017, with another 10.8GW of new additions expected before the year’s out.
Whilst traditionally voluntary procurement by utilities has been the largest driver of utility-scale PV, corporate procurement/offsite commercial and industrial now accounts for 2GW, or 10%, of projects currently being development in the U.S. This demonstrates the growing appetite for green power, which can be put down to both Corporate Social Responsibility measures and, crucially, the rapidly falling costs of renewable technology enabling green power to be competitive with conventional power sources. As outlined in the GPX white paper, consumer appetite for green power has grown year-on-year for the past decade in both the U.S. and Europe.
The GPX platform will directly connect producers of green power to consumers on the local network. Not only will this help producers to sell their power at a good price, it will substantially widen consumer choice and allow the millions of businesses, industries and individuals to access power of their choosing.
Wind Blows Natural Gas Away
Aside from the dominance of PV, wind power deployment accounted for almost all of the remaining new capacity in the first quarter of 2018. With 40% of the new additions coming from wind, when combined with PV, the two renewables powerhouses account for a huge 95% of new capacity additions since the turn of the year.
New U.S. Electricity Generating Capacity Additions, 2010-Q1 2018
Source: GTM Research (solar), FERC, (all other technologies)
As a result, natural gas, a former heavyweight source of power in the United States, has contributed just 2% of new generating capacity additions in Q1 of 2018, a vast drop from the 41% it added over the course of 2017. Likewise, there have been no new coal deployments since 2014 and even then it contributed just 1% of all additions.
This latest analysis only reinforces the strength of renewables and as deployment costs continue to fall and consumer appetite grows, the future looks bright for renewable energy, the environment and Green Power Exchange!
About GPX: The Green Power Exchange is a peer-to-peer power-trading platform striving to remove the middlemen in power trading. Using blockchain technology, IoT integration and a user-friendly interface, the GPX platform represents a radical departure from current opaque and antiquated energy trading practices. GPX will enable an inclusive approach to power trading by directly connecting the producer and consumer. For more information, visit our website.
