The month of March showed the only new electricity generation capacity installed with seven new units totalling 44 MWs – 100% new energy installations came from large scale solar power projects for the entire month!

A report released by the US Governments Office of Energy Projects Energy Infrastructure Update for March shows figures relating to the first quarter of 2013. The solar installations for March that made history are a 26 MW plant in California, 3 MWs in Nevada, 5 MWs in New Jersey, 6 MWs in Honolulu, 1.9 MWs in Maui, 1.15 MWs in Arizona and 1.3 MWs in North Carolina.

However, solar power is still a small player in the USA’s energy mix representing only 0.44% as at the end of March. Other top players include coal representing 29.01%, natural gas representing 42.41% and nuclear with 9.15% of the total energy mix. Wind power came in with 5.18% share.

Renewable energy sources (including biomass, geothermal, solar, water and wind power) accounted for 82% of all new domestic electricity generation in the first quarter of the year. The total capacity of these renewable energies came to 1 546 MWs. Wind energy came in first place for the quarter with new projects totalling 958 MWs. Next came solar power with 38 new units totalling 537 MWs and account for 28% of new power capacity installed, (excluding small and medium scale installations). Coal, nuclear and oil have not produced any new operating capacity so far this year. Natural gas has 340 MWs of new capacity installed.

The following chart shows new generations for March as well as for the first quarter of 2013 and 2012. Solar power has definitely had the best results with a cumulative total for this first quarter of 537 MWs compared to the first quarter of 2012 only having 264 MWs.

The next chart shows the total installed generating capacity in GWs as well as the percentage those gigawatts represent. Now, 15.77% of the total US installed generating capacity now comes from renewables.

It is clear the fossil fuelled electricity is still generating electricity with existing power plants; however, it is also clear that new generations are all being developed in renewable energy – renewables will continue to grow and start to dominate the energy mix more and more.