US is today one of the forerunners in using safe and clean energy for generating power. It has made rapid strides in wind, solar and geothermal projects. Renewable energy produce in the USA accounted for 11.14% of the total produced electricity in the first six years. In the year 2009, the country was the largest global producer of solar, wind and geothermal electricity and it trailed behind only China in the production of renewable energy.
Today US wind power has a capacity of 35,159 MW which can supply energy to 9.7 million households. Texas is a winner in development of wind power followed by Iowa and California. The largest solar thermal power station is located in the Mojave desert. It has a capacity of 354MW. This is at present the largest solar plant in the world. The largest photovoltaic plant is the Copper Mountain Solar Facility in Nevada with a capacity of 48 MW. The geysers in California are the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world.
President Barack Obama stated that development of renewable energy marks a golden era in energy efficient systems. In 2009, renewable energy accounted for 10.4% of the domestically produced electricity in America. 31% of the electricity consumed in California comes from renewable resources. Most of the energy is produced from hydropower with 12% coming from geothermal and wind energy.
The reason why the United States is the forerunner in renewable energy is that it has tremendous amount of energy resources and the best brains in the industry working together to make renewable energy from these resources.
These efforts help the county to generate electricity at the same price of coal and gas. The renewable energies will soon be economically competitive with the fossil fuels that meet 84% of the country’s energy needs today.
The renewable energies also include government subsidies. All states barring 4 states in the USA have promoted incentives for renewable energy.
More than a dozen states have enacted new laws relating to renewable energy resources. At present, hydroelectric power is the largest renewable energy resource in the USA accounting for 66.8% of the renewable power produced in 2008. Today the country is the 4th largest producer of hydro electricity in the world after China, Canada and Brazil. The Grand Coulee Canal is the 5th largest hydroelectric power station in the world and there are 6 more that feature amongst the 50th largest in the world.