Yale University Environment 360 Digest, predicts a bumper year for U.S. renewables in its February 26, 2025 edition. This is great news, with persistent signs of global warming following earlier predictions. National opinion is divided on the root causes of this phenomenon.
Strong Support for Renewables in U.S. Energy Industry
Solar panels and batteries are showing good potential to replace conventional coal and natural gas peaking stations. It’s good to know that solar power can be cheaper too, putting money back in the pockets of citizens.
Yale Environment 360 Digest estimates 80% of new U.S. power capacity installed during 2025, will be batteries and solar panels. This makes 2025 a record growth year, and they say ‘helps hasten the decline of coal power’.
Solar power alone will contribute half the new energy capacity during a bumper year for U.S. renewables. This information comes direct from U.S. Energy Information Administration, who confirm most of the new panels will be in California and Texas.
However, wind will only grow at a quarter of the solar rate. Yale Environment 360 ascribes this contrast to ‘soaring costs, lengthy permitting timelines, and public backlash against new projects’.
Coal Power Stations Wither as U.S. Renewables Boom
Meanwhile, Yale Environment 360 continues, the U.S. will shut down twice as much coal power in 2025, as it did in 2024. This is further proof, they say, that renewables are ‘edging coal off the grid’.
We understand that the remaining U.S. coal-power generating stations are sending out less energy, as renewables steadily secure a price advantage. And that this is beginning to chip away at the coal-power cost-benefit model.
“Coal may retain a grip in U.S. politics,” observes Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “But its actual role in the generation system is shrinking annually. It is a trend we believe is irreversible.”
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