The United States tops 1.495 GW of solar power generation capacity, January-November 2015

The United States installed a total of 4.378 GW of wind power and 1.495 GW of solar power generation capacity in January-November 2015, boosting its cumulative non-hydro renewables capacity to 104.3 GW.

Thanks to a 46.7% rise in wind power installations during the 11-month period, the total non-hydro renewables deployment in the United States from January-November 2015 increased to 6.175 GW from 5.886 GW in the previous year. This, despite a 43% drop in solar power installations.

The latest figures released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) indicate that during the month of November alone, the United States deployed 229 MW of power generation capacity with 222 MW from renewable sources and just 5 MW from natural gas.

Last month, Xcel Energy plugged in the 200-MW Pleasant Valley wind farm in Minnesota, which accounts for all wind power capacity installed during the month. The United States’ total installed wind capacity now stands at 70.24 GW.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Municipal Power Agency brought online the 2-MW Pendleton solar park in Indiana and SPW Solar Holdings 1 LLC switched on the 20-MW Sierra Solar Greenworks Project in Los Angeles County, California. The country’s total solar power capacity now amounts to 13.48 GW.

Currently, renewable power plants in the United States, excluding hydroelectric facilities, account for 8.95% of the total power mix.

The Energy Infrastructure Update report for November 2015 is available here.

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This article has been published here with permission by the PVBuzz Media team from the original article written by Ivan Shumkov and published on SeeNews Renewables.