Renewable energy in New York State is booming

     The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday that New York State’s solar power for homes renewable energy generation last year was the largest among the states east of the Mississippi River. Renewable energy, including hydropower, accounted for 30% of New York State’s total power generation.

     EIA pointed out that the changes in the power generation structure of New York State reflect the overall trend of the overall power generation structure of the United States over the past 15 years-the proportion of natural gas and renewable energy is rising, while the proportion of coal-fired power generation is falling.

     Over the past ten years, due to the cheap and abundant source of shale gas and stricter emission regulations, natural gas is gradually replacing coal for power generation, so coal-fired power generation capacity has been declining across the United States. 

     In New York State, the share of coal in power generation fell from 14% in 2005 to less than 1% last year, while the share of natural gas in power generation rose from 22% to 36%.

     According to EIA data, in 2019, hydropower accounted for 23% of New York’s total electricity generation and 78% of the state’s renewable energy generation.