With only four percent of Pennsylvania’s energy currently coming from renewable sources, achieving 100% renewable energy can seem like an impossible feat. But the state is moving forward and away from dirty fossil fuels. Renewable energy growth in Pennsylvania has stagnated.
Pennsylvania has a long road ahead to 100% renewable energy, but the Wind Energy Foundation is working to shed light on how far the state has already come. Through a project called A Renewable America, the nonprofit is raising public awareness of how each of the six major sources of renewable energy – solar, biomass, geothermal, hydro, waste-to-energy, and wind power – are already powering the growth in Pennsylvania.
Here is a look into renewable energy growth in the state. The solar industry is the fastest growing energy industry in America and Pennsylvanians are increasingly looking toward the sun to power their homes and businesses.
In 2015, Pennsylvania installed 13 megawatts (MW) of solar electric capacity, or enough to power about 1,521 average homes. The $31 million invested on solar installations last year represents a 21 percent increase over 2014.
Pennsylvania is now ranked 26th nationally in solar energy capacity. Pennsylvania is also home to 720 wind turbines, making the state 16th in wind capacity. In 2014, approximately 329,000 homes in the state were powered by wind energy.
Renewable energy sources are powering homes and businesses across Pennsylvania, and thousands of residents are employed by these industries. A new Clean Jobs Pennsylvania report found that there are 66,021 clean energy workers in the state, with the solar industry employing 5,167 workers.
Transitioning to renewable energy sources is creating a cleaner Pennsylvania and providing the state’s residents with valuable jobs in industries that will only continue to grow.
submitted by Sarah Bergen, Blogger/Publicist, Exact Solar