Fossil fuels are accounting for a vanishing amount of new installed energy capacity in the US. Even the relatively cheap natural gas is at a virtual standstill, while renewables account for the lion’s share of new capacity this year, according to Recharge News.

In the first four months of the year, natural gas plants with a capacity of just 67 megawatts (MW) came online. This is a 99% decrease compared to 5.1 gigawatts (GW) in the same period of 2023.

Natural gas is otherwise a major player in the US energy supply, as the energy source accounts for 43.5% of the country’s total capacity of 1.3 terrawatts (TW).

Conversely, solar energy is the main driver of new installations. In the first four months of the year, 7.9GW of solar capacity was installed, up from 3.8GW in the corresponding period last year.

At the same time, wind energy installations, which are more affected by price increases, permitting challenges and local opposition, were 1.8GW compared to 2.0GW the year prior.

In the first four months of the year, 5MW of new oil capacity was installed, while the figure for black coal was near zero.

(English edit by Kristoffer Grønbæk)