Wind and solar power have dominated new power capacity additions in 2021. They’ve also been at the forefront of power capacity growth in the United States in the past three years.
New Power Capacity in USA
The latest installation data come from October 2021, which was, incidentally, a rare month in which fossil gas (aka “natural gas”) led the show. Such months have been a very uncommon occurrence in the past few years, but especially in the past year. In 2021, wind and solar power have absolutely dominated new power capacity additions, accounting for a whopping 85.9% of new US power capacity (see chart above). That was despite fossil gas getting 51.1% share of the market in October (see chart below).
