Even with the difficult market conditions confronting the renewable energy industry this year, the sector grew 12.4% in the first quarter – renewables now supply over 3.9% of U.S. electricity (excluding conventional hydro).
Net electrical generation in the U.S. dropped 4.3% from March 2008 to March 2009, the eighth consecutive month that net generation was down compared to the same calendar month in the prior year, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest "Electric Power Monthly" report.
Year over year, coal-fired generation dropped 15.3%, conventional hydro grew 1.1%, geothermal increased 1.7% and wind grew 38.5%. Conventional hydro supplied 6.5% of total U.S. electrical generation in March 2009, while renewables generated 3.9%. Renewable sources of electricity continued to enjoy double-digit growth during the past year. By comparison, coal and natural gas use plummeted while nuclear remained flat.
"Apologists for the nuclear and fossil fuel industries persist in trying to mislead the public by repeatedly spreading the myth that renewables account for only a tiny fraction of U.S. electricity production," says Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. "However, the hard numbers document the continuing dramatic growth in renewable energy’s already-significant contribution to the nation’s electricity supply – a contribution that will eventually leave coal and nuclear behind in the dust."
2008 was also the year when, for the first time, investment in clean energy was higher than for fossil fuels.
Investors poured a record $155 billion dollars into clean energy companies and projects worldwide in 2008, mostly in wind and solar, according to a U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) report, "Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009." Despite the worldwide recession, that topped the record investments in 2007 by 5% and is more than a four-fold increase since 2004.
And investments by developing econonomies such as China, Brazil, India and Africa are largely responsible for the increase.
During the year, China morphed from having hardly any wind energy to becoming the world’s largest generator of wind power. It was the first year that investments in developing countries surged 27% year over year to $36.6 billion dollars – almost a third of global investments. China’s investment grew 18%, India’s grew 12% and Africa exceeded the $1 billion mark for the time.
Private sector investment in advanced countries dropped substantially in 2008, but much of the gap was taken up by governments as is the case for 2009. For Q109, global investments plunged 53% compared to the first quarter 2008, and will likely end up 25-35% lower for the year.
UNEP says a minimum of $750 billion – which would equal 37% of the economic stimulus packages and 1% of global GDP – is necessary to finance a sustainable economic recovery by investing in the greening of five key sectors: buildings, energy, transport, agriculture and water.
"Renewable energy investment has to get up to 70 or 80% of all energy investments to meet countries’ carbon emission targets," says Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy. "The skyrocketing growth in green energy will resume in the near future and will be the first sector to recover," he told IPS News.
Indeed, a study from Emerging Energy Research confirms that. The research firm predicts that although wind capacity additions may drop as much as 24% in 2009 compared to 2008, to as low as 6.5 GW, there will be a significant rebound. When liquidity returns in wind project debt and tax equity markets, they forecast 9 GW of wind capacity additions in 2010, and 11 GW in 2011. Annual growth for wind should increase from 8.5 GW in 2008 to nearly 15.5 GW by 2020.
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EIA Electric Power Monthly
US Wind Power Markets and Strategies, 2009-2020
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