The American Wind Energy Assocation (AWEA) reported yesterday that their initial estimate of US wind growth was too slow. It turns out wind capacity grew more than 8.5 GW rather than 8.3 GW, a white-hot 51%! And they released a projection for 2009 of (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘2008’
Report: 2008 US Wind Growth Even Faster
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009Coal Share of US Electricity Falling
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
I’ve got some good news to share — coal is losing its market share in the US electricity mix to less carbon-intensive sources. In the late 1990s, coal-fired power plants produced almost 53% of total US electricity. And the US EIA just released in its estimate for 2008 electricity that coal’s share fell to (more…)
US Solar Market Has Room to Grow
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
The US pioneered solar in the 1950s, and was the largest market for a long time. But as I have discussed in previous posts, it’s been many years since the US market led global growth. Germany has dominated PV growth for a number of years until Spain’s strong 2008 growth of 2.46 GW. Today’s post will discuss the whole solar market (including solar thermal) after perusing the 2008 Year in Review published by (more…)
It’s Official: Global Solar Market Exploded in 2008
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009Recent growth rates for solar have been impressive at 40+% these past several years. But the newly published Solarbuzz Annual Report, Marketbuzz 2009, shows last year’s rate blew those numbers away. The global solar installation market more than doubled (growing 110%) to add 5.95 GW of solar PV and bring our cumulative solar capacity to (more…)
Record Global Wind Growth: Becomes Race Between US & China
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Wind power did not just have outstanding growth in the US last year. This renewable energy success story was a worldwide phenomenon. Global wind capacity grew a record (more…)
California doubles solar in 2008
Sunday, February 1st, 2009The good news in 2008 regarding US wind was matched by its renewable sister industry, solar. California is the leading state in solar deployment and it doubled capacity last year. While numbers have not yet emerged from other states, it looks to be a banner year for the industry nationwide. (more…)
Top Wind States Emerge from the Great Plains
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
The Great Plains have long been touted as an area of vast wind power potential. And I’m glad to report that the people living there are now beginning to take significant advantage of their renewable resource. North Dakota, the state with the most wind potential in the lower 48, just became the biggest wind producing state by percentage of electricity consumption at ~20.8%. (more…)
2008 a Record Year for Wind
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009As I posted a couple months back, wind has been expected to grow a record amount in 2008. But the credit crisis made me wonder whether growth would really be more than 7.5 GW like the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) projected. Lo and behold, that number was low. Wind power capacity grew (more…)
Oil in Mexico: Where is it headed?
Monday, January 26th, 2009
As I have reported many times these past few months, Mexican oil production has been declining rapidly. Last year’s full numbers were just released, and the country produced ~9% less oil in 2008 than the year before, even though prices hit their highest ever. But there was an interesting trend at the end of last year that could determine whether their exports will fall to zero by the end of Obama’s first term. (more…)
SET’s First Webinar: 2008 Energy in Review
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
I’m proud to announce that SET will co-host its first webinar! On Friday, Jan 9, at 9am US Eastern Standard Time, we will collaborate with our European partners at Leonardo Energy to present the Energy Year in Review for 2008. We will discuss the tumultuous energy trends of 2008 and potential implications for the upcoming year.
Details on the webinar are available at (more…)