It’s been a wild first half of the year in the U.S. power sector, with announcements of gigantic natural gas power plants and some long-awaited renewable energy projects coming online.
At times of rapid change, forecasting is difficult. So I feel a measure of comfort focusing on something concrete like the list of 368 utility-scale plants that began operation from January to June, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The group is dominated by utility-scale solar.
This is a top-heavy list, led by SunZia Wind South and SunZia Wind North in New Mexico, which went online this spring and are the largest wind farms in the country, with a combined generating capacity of 3,650 megawatts. SunZia has been in the works for about a decade and arrives at a time when U.S. onshore wind power development has dwindled for a host of reasons related to regulations and public opinion.
A worker walks on a turbine at the SunZia wind project in New Mexico. Credit: GE Vernova
In other words, the SunZia is not indicative of an onshore wind-energy boom. It is more like an echo from a past boom.
