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America's renewable energy set to surpass coal for the first month ever
New York (CNN Business)America's clean energy revolution is on the verge of a tipping point.
The renewable energy sector is projected to generate more electricity than coal during the month of April, according to a recent report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. That's never happened before.
Coal, long the king of the power sector, has already been dethroned by natural gas, a much cleaner burning fossil fuel. Now, coal is facing intensifying pressure from wind and solar power.
"Five years ago this never would have been close to happening," Dennis Wamstead, research analyst at IEEFA, said in an interview. "The transition that's going on in the electric sector in the United States has been phenomenal."
Even a decade ago, America's renewable energy had little presence other than hydro power. But a wave of investment — first into wind, and then solar — has made these new technologies far cheaper.
At the same time, increased awareness about climate change has led many American businesses, households and state legislatures to demand cleaner energy.
"Renewables are just a better bet at the moment," Wamstead said.
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Some power companies are preemptively retiring other coal plants in a bid to be more environmentally friendly.
For instance, Xcel Energy (XEL) has shut down a quarter of its coal power plants and plans to pull the plug on another quarter. The Minneapolis-based power company recently announced a plan to deliver zero-carbon electricity by 2050 — an ambitious goal that will require plenty of wind and solar energy.
"Wind is already beating fossil fuel alternatives — even with low natural gas prices," Xcel CEO Ben Fowke recently told CNN Business last month.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/29/business/renewable-energy-coal-solar/index.html