Hydropower plants, solar farms, and wind farms generated more electricity than coal in the United States for a record 40 days in a row, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said in a new report.
The IEEFA had earlier forecast that renewables, including hydropower, would exceed coal in terms of electricity generation next year. But if the April trend continues, this target would be reached this year, the organization said.
Warm weather, low gas prices, and a substantial expansion in renewable installations at the end of 2019 all contributed to the performance of the segment, the IEEFA report noted, but so did the fall in demand for electricity brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. While this is certainly good news, not all is well in renewables.
Last month, a group of organizations working to expand the share of renewables in the United States’ energy mix warned that the pandemic was causing a loss of jobs in renewable energy, and this loss could reach half a million.
Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), the American Council on Renewable Energy, E4TheFuture, and B.W. Research Partnership analysed jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that besides the 106,000 people who had already lost their jobs in renewable energy, more than half a million could also be out of their jobs over the next few months.
