Solar Power Generated All New Electricity To U.S. Grid In March

For the first time ever, all of the new electricity added to the U.S. power grid in March came from solar installations, according to an NPR report.

The broadcast cited data from the FERC, or Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, monthly report on power sources, which can be read here.

In fact, solar energy installations are in the lead for the year in terms of the number of installations added to the U.S. power grid, the only other form of new energy installations really in competition with solar is biomass.

In March solar power added 44 megawatts of power to the grid. From January to March of this year, solar added 537 megawatts to the grid, behind wind power, which generated 958 megawatts in the first quarter of the year.

The new solar power installed in March came from seven projects in California, Nevada, New Jersey, Hawaii, Arizona, and North Carolina, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

All other energy sources combined added no new generation

"This speaks to the extraordinary strides we have made in the past several years to bring down costs and ramp up deployment," said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association.  "Since 2008, the amount of solar powering U.S. homes, businesses and military bases has grown by more than 600 percent-from 1,100 megawatts to more than 7,700 megawatts today.  As FERC's report suggests, and many analysts predict, solar will grow to be our nation's largest new source of energy over the next four years." 

While solar energy is growing, it only represents 0.44 percent of the total installed operating generating capacity, according to the FERC data. Natural gas (42 percent) and coal (29 percent) generate the most power.