Republican states benefiting from shift to wind and solar energy

[n2doc]

WASHINGTON – If there’s a War on Coal, it’s increasingly clear which side is winning.

Wind turbines and solar panels accounted for more than two-thirds of all new electric generation capacity added to the nation’s grid in 2015, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy. The remaining third was largely new power plants fueled by natural gas, which has become cheap and plentiful as a result of hydraulic fracturing.

It was the second straight year U.S. investment in renewable energy projects has outpaced that of fossil fuels. Robust growth is once again predicted for this year.

And while Republican lawmakers in Washington have fought to protect coal-fired power plants, opposing President Barack Obama’s efforts to curtail climate-warming carbon emissions, data show their home states are often the ones benefiting most from the nation’s accelerating shift to renewable energy.

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http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/05/investment-in-wind-and-solar-projects-outpaces-fossil-fueled-power-plants-for-second-straight-yearthe-u-s-department-of-energy-says-wind-turbines-and-solar-panels-accounted-for-more-than-two-thirds/

[NNadir]

1. Nobody is actually "benefiting" from wind and solar. They remain trivial, since they have...

...extremely poor capacity utilization. The entire so called "renewable energy" business in this country and every country is an expensive failure.

The fastest growing, by far, source of electrical energy in the United States is dangerous natural gas.

The entire wind industry production as opposed to the lie it puts forth about (peak) "capacity" in this country despite years of praise for it, didn't even match 35% of the increase in the use of dangerous natural gas over the last 10 years.

It is losing ground on dangerous fossil fuels, and in fact, the entire so called "renewable energy" industry which is not sustainable nor economically viable without massive subsidies - most benefiting the rich at the expense of the poor - is nothing but a fig leaf for the gas industry.