Through June of 2012, renewable energy was right behind natural
gas in terms of the most new energy generating capacity being
installed in the United States, with wind making up most of the
renewables push. And now Business Insider has flagged the
numbers for the remainder of the year. Last week, they reported
that wind ultimately pulled ahead of natural gas to become the
leading installer of new capacity in 2012, at 10,689 total
megawatts. Those numbers came from the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission’s report on the trends and highlights in U.S. energy
for the past year. According to FERC’s update, natural gas
installed 8,746 megawatts of new capacity, coal installed 4,510
new megawatts, and solar came in fourth with 1,476 new
megawatts. Here’s the relevant table from the report,
conveniently highlighted by Business Insider: One thing to note
here is the issue of capacity factor: That’s how much power an
installation actually produces as a percentage of its
theoretical capacity. (Which is what’s listed in