Renewable energy in the United States

According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy accounted for 17.8% of total primary energy production and 22.7% of total utility-scale electricity generation in the United States in 2024, up from 8.4% and 21% in 2022. Since 2019, wind power has been the largest producer of renewable electricity in the country. Wind power generated 434 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2022, which accounted for 10% of the nation's electricity and 48% of renewable generation. By January 2023, the United States nameplate generating capacity for wind power was 141.3 gigawatts (GW). Texas remained firmly established as the leader in wind power deployment, followed by Iowa and Oklahoma as of the first quarter of 2023. Hydroelectric power is the second-largest producer of renewable electricity in the country, generating around 6.2% of the nation's electricity in 2022 as well as 29% of renewable generation. The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China, Canada and Brazil. Solar power provides a growing share of electricity in the country, with over 111.6 GW of installed capacity generating about 3.4% of the country's total electricity supply in 2022, up from 2.8% the previous year. As of 2020, more than 260,000 people worked in the solar industry and 43 states deployed net metering, where energy utilities bought back excess power generated by solar arrays. Large photovoltaic power plants in the United States include Mount Signal Solar (600 MW) and Solar Star (579 MW). Since the United States pioneered solar thermal power technology in the 1980s with Solar One, several more such power stations have been built. The largest of these solar thermal power stations are the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (392 MW), southwest of Las Vegas, and the SEGS group of plants in the Mojave Desert, with a total generating capacity of 354 MW. Other renewable energy sources include geothermal, with The Geysers in Northern California the largest geothermal complex in the world. The development of renewable energy and energy efficiency marked "a new era of energy exploration" in the United States, according to President Barack Obama in 2009. In a joint address to the Congress on February 24, 2009, President Obama called for doubling renewable energy within the following three years. Renewable energy reached a major milestone in the first quarter of 2011, when it contributed 11.7% of total national energy production (660 TWh), surpassing energy production from nuclear power (620 TWh) for the first time since 1997. In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama restated his commitment to renewable energy and mentioned the long-standing Interior Department commitment to permit 10 GW of renewable energy projects on public land in 2012. Under President Joe Biden, Congress increased that goal to 25 GW by 2025. As of May 2023, the Bureau of Land Management has approved projects meeting approximately 37% of that goal. In 2022 the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that renewable energy sources would supply 44% of U.S. energy by 2050 at which time it would by the largest electricity generation source in the U.S. Much of which would be driven by the increased adoption of solar energy.

Rationale for renewables Renewable energy technologies encompass a broad, diverse array of technologies, including solar photovoltaics, solar thermal power plants and heating/cooling systems, wind farms, hydroelectricity, geothermal power plants, and ocean power systems and the use of biomass. The report Outlook On Renewable Energy In America explains that America needs renewable energy, for many reasons:

America needs energy that is secure, reliable, improves public health, protects the environment, addresses climate change, creates jobs, and provides technological leadership. America needs renewable energy. If renewable energy is to be developed to its full potential, America will need coordinated, sustained federal and state policies that expand renewable energy markets; promote and deploy new technology; and provide appropriate opportunities to encourage renewable energy use in all critical energy market sectors: wholesale and distributed electricity generation, thermal energy applications, and transportation.

Another benefit of some renewable energy technologies, like wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) is that they require little or no water to generate electricity whereas thermoelectric (fossil fuel–based) power plants require vast amounts of water for operation. In 2009, President Barack Obama in the inaugural address called for the expanded use of renewable energy to meet the twin challenges of energy security and climate change. Those were the first references ever to the nation's energy use, to renewable resources, and to climate change in an inauguration speech of a United States president. President Obama looked to the near future, saying that as a nation, the United States will "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." Obama's New Energy For America plan called for a federal investment of $150 billion over the next decade to catalyze private efforts to build a sustainable energy future. Specifically, the plan calls for renewable energy to supply 10% of the nation's electricity by 2012, rising to 25% by 2025. In his joint address to Congress in 2009, Obama stated that: "We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century.... Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation's supply of renewable energy in the next three years... It is time for America to lead again". As of 2011, new evidence has emerged that there are considerable risks associated with traditional energy sources, and that major changes to the mix of energy technologies is needed:

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