In yet another blow to the Trump administration’s energy agenda, solar overtook coal power generation in the U.S. electricity mix for the first month on record in May, according to an analysis published Wednesday by the energy think tank Ember. The data shows that solar supplied a record 12.8% of US power, while coal generation fell to 12.2%. That represents coal’s fourth-lowest monthly share ever, Ember reports. Also on Wednesday, the Solar Energy Industries Association and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie released their US Solar Market Insight Q2 report, which underscores the continued growth of solar and the decline of coal despite federal efforts to revitalize the domestic fossil fuel industry. “U.S. solar power continues to set new records,” Nicolas Fulghum, a senior data analyst at Ember, said in a release. “Overtaking coal for the first month on record shows just how far solar has come, from a niche contributor to the third-largest and fastest-growing source of power in the U.S. electricity system.”
Renewables surviving Trump’s attacks This news comes just two months after Ember reported that renewables—including wind, solar, hydropower, and bioenergy—produced more than a third of U.S. electricity in March, surpassing natural gas across an entire month for the first time.
