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Environment

The Challenge with 100%

Association Staff

As lawmakers and communities push for increased renewable energy in the generating mix, it’s important for them to understand the technical and economic challenges that come with transitioning to a system that relies on clean resources — and why it will take time.

Generation isn't guaranteed: Renewables are variable resources, which means how much electricity gets generated day-to-day isn’t only a matter of whether the wind is blowing or sun is shining, but how much sun or wind there is

Average capacity factor, by source:

  • 35% wind
  • 24% solar

Over-building Is Necessary: Solar, wind, and other renewables accounted for 17.1% of capacity in 2021, but only 13.7% of generation. In comparison, baseload resources (i.e., coal, natural gas, nuclear) account for just over 71% of capacity, but were responsible for nearly 80% of generation in 2021

Connection Queues Are Long: More than 1,300 GW of capacity is in interconnection queues — as much as all capacity already in service in the U.S. 5 years: Median time expected for projects to wait to connect to the grid.

Technology Needs to Catch Up: Most current energy storage solutions can only provide a few hours of energy at a time. Clean baseload resources, such as advanced nuclear, are still in development.

Small Generators Also Pose Challenges: Distributed generation — such as rooftop solar — can cause high voltage swings and other stresses on electric grid equipment.

The path is very different from region to region: Some regions already have a power supply that is majority from clean resources, whereas others would need to transition most or all of their supply

 

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