Almost 20GW of new renewable energy capacity was added in the US last year, according to BloombergNEF.
In its ‘2019 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook’, BloombergNEF said 19.5GW was installed in 2018, comprising 11.6GW of solar and 7.5GW of wind.
A further 142MW of hydro was brought online, 103MW of biomass and waste-to-energy and 53MW of geothermal, the company said.
However, carbon dioxide emissions in the power sector grew by 0.6%, despite the growth in clean power, as the most natural gas generation was added for 14 years.
BNEF said that lithium-ion battery storage costs fell by 18% year-on-year, boosting both electric vehicles and stationary storage applications and encouraging utilities to sign power purchase agreements pairing storage with solar and wind.
BloombergNEF head of Americas Ethan Zindler said: “More coal plants closing and being replaced by cleaner sources of power marked a key trend that continued in 2018.
“However, the overall jump in CO₂ emissions during 2018 is a clear reminder that technological advancements on their own cannot address the climate challenge.
“Strong, supportive policies are needed at the local, state, as well as federal level.”