In the American Council On Renewable Energy's (ACORE) latest installment of a region-by-region report of U.S. clean energy capacity and policies, the group says renewable energy is fast becoming more cost competitive in the Northeast.
Three large utilities in Massachusetts, for example, recently signed long-term contracts to purchase renewable energy at less than $0.08/kWh, below the cost of most conventional sources in the region.
According to the report, there are renewable energy targets in every northeastern state, many of which have solar energy carve-outs. New York and Pennsylvania are first and second, respectively, in both renewable power with and without hydropower.
‘For several years now, the renewable energy sector has been growing at an increasingly impressive rate. This has been especially true in the Northeast. These eleven states – plus the District of Columbia – rank second nationwide in both solar and biomass power capacity and may be on the precipice of a massive offshore wind build-out,’ says Lesley Hunter, ACORE's research and program manager and lead author of the report.
This fall, both the Western Region Report and the Midwestern Region Report were released, and the Southeast Region Report will be released early in 2014. ACORE's ‘2013 Renewable Energy in the 50 States: Northeastern Region’ can be viewed here.
