Energy

36% of Electrical Power Coming Online is From Solar or Wind

Published

7 years ago

December 20, 2016

Jeff Desjardins

The way America uses energy can’t change overnight.

Despite the hype around renewables, it takes time, money, and new technology to build out these plants at a scale that will make a difference.

As a result, many people are still surprised that solar and wind constitute less than 2% of energy generated in the U.S. as of 2015:

Click here for a larger version of this giant diagram.

Yes, oil is the big dog for now, and it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable near-term.

However, the switch to renewables is gaining momentum fast.

We noted earlier this year that solar and wind capacity grew 31% and 5% respectively between 2014 and 2015. However, the following news is even more significant, since it shows that new power coming online from renewables is happening at a scale that will make a considerable dent in the actual energy mix.

New Power Coming Online

The following infographic comes to us from Mantena Notes, and it looks at new energy capacity coming online in the territories of different United States Independent System Operators (ISOs).

First, some background: ISOs are grids in the U.S. that are deregulated, where power plants compete to provide electricity at the lowest price. This infographic looks at what is in their interconnection queues, which are essentially waiting lines for new power plants that have applied to become a part of the grid.

Renewable power coming online

It should be noted that the above additions do not technically represent the whole U.S., but it does help give an idea of what the market is moving towards and what is cost effective. The aforementioned ISOs constitute a very significant chunk of the overall market.

This is how the new power coming online breaks down:

46% natural gas (127 GW)
20% wind (55 GW)
16% solar (44 GW)
5% coal (14 GW)
9% other (35 GW)

The low gas price environment makes switching to natural gas easy, and thus gas makes up the most gigawatts of new capacity coming online.

Solar and wind combine for 99 GW of upcoming capacity, which is significant by almost any measure. For comparison, the largest ever peak in California’s electricity demand occurred on July 24, 2006 for 50.3 GW.

That definitely moves the needle.

Related Topics:energy natural gas power solar wind renewables grid electrical

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Energy

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023

Today, electric vehicle sales make up 18% of global vehicle sales. Here are the leading models by sales as of August 2023.

Published

3 days ago

December 1, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Highest Electric Vehicle Sales, by Model

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023

Electric vehicle (EV) sales are gaining momentum, reaching 18% of global vehicle sales in 2023.

As new competitors bring more affordable options and new performance features, the market continues to mature as customers increasingly look to electric options.

This graphic ranks the top-selling EVs worldwide as of August 2023, based on data from CleanTechnica.

The Best Selling EVs in 2023 (Through August)

Below, we show the world’s best selling fully electric vehicles from January to August 2023:

Model	Country	Vehicles Sold (Jan-Aug 2023)
Tesla Model Y	🇺🇸 U.S.	772,364
Tesla Model 3	🇺🇸 U.S.	364,403
BYD Atto 3 / Yuan Plus	🇨🇳 China	265,688
BYD Dolphin	🇨🇳 China	222,825
GAC Aion S	🇨🇳 China	160,693
Wuling HongGuang Mini EV	🇨🇳 China	153,399
GAC Aion Y	🇨🇳 China	136,619
VW ID.4	🇩🇪 Germany	120,154
BYD Seagull	🇨🇳 China	95,202

As we can see, Tesla‘s Model Y still holds a comfortable lead over the competition with 772,364 units sold. That’s more than double the sales of the #2 top selling vehicle, Tesla’s Model 3 (364,403)

But it’s hard to ignore the rising prevalence of Chinese EVs. The next five best selling EV vehicles are Chinese, including three from BYD. The automaker’s Atto 3 (or Yuan Plus, depending on market), is being sold in various countries including Germany, the UK, Japan, and India.

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker GAC Group also had two models of its Aion EV brand make the rankings, with the Aion S selling 160,693 units so far.

Regional market strength is also clear. For Volkswagen’s ID.4 model (120,154 units sold), Europe and China account for the majority of sales.

Given growing cost efficiencies and changing consumer behavior, global EV sales are projected to make up half of new car sales globally by 2035, according to forecasts from Goldman Sachs.