ELECTRICITY: Alt-power projects outpace new fossil-fuel efforts — report (07/15/2010)
Nathanial Gronewold, E&E reporter
UNITED NATIONS — For the second year in a row more alternative energy power capacity was added to electricity grids in Europe and the United States than power from coal, natural gas or nuclear reactors, according to a report released today.
That trend will be seen worldwide by the end of this year or next, with China leading the way in alternative energy projects, a U.N. agency and a Paris-based public policy organization say.
More than 50 percent of new generating capacity added in the United States last year came from wind, solar and other clean energy sources, according to analyses by the U.N. Environment Program and the nonprofit Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21).
And though new investment is stalling in Europe, more than 60 percent of new installed capacity in E.U. nations in 2009 came from renewables, the report says.
Still, overall investment levels plunged last year, falling victim to the global recession