Oregon renewable energy statistics

In the third quarter of 2010 Oregon was nation's leader in new wind energy projects.

Oregon currently has 2095 megawatts of installed wind power capacity, which means the No.4 spot in United States, behind Texas, Iowa and California.

Oregon is nation's solar manufacturing leader, followed by Ohio and Massachusetts.

Oregon currently accounts for 3% of nation's solar energy jobs.

Oregon currently has around 340 MW of installed solar power capacity.

In 2009 Oregon added 691 MW of new wind power capacity.

In 2009 wind power accounted for around 7% of total electricity generated in Oregon.

In first half of 2010 Oregon added 5MW of new solar power capacity.

Oregon currently gets around 42% of its energy from hydroelectric power.

Oregon currently accounts for more than 1000 nation's solar energy jobs.

According to American Wind Energy Association Oregon has potential to install over 27,000 megawatts of onshore wind power.

There are currently 15 active geothermal energy projects In Oregon with the total capacity of 473 megawatts.

Wave energy basics

Introduction
Wave energy is renewable energy source which could in years to come become a very interesting energy option to cut our reliance on fossil fuels and improve our energy security. Harnessing wave power is yet to become commercially viable, though we are talking about one of the most abundant energy resources on our planet(the useful worldwide wave resources have been estimated to be greater than 2 TW).

What's good about wave energy?

Wave energy is clean, environmentally friendly renewable source of energy. There are many areas where ocean winds blow with required consistency and power to efficiently harness this form of renewable energy. Wave power has enormous potential, and also waves are quite predictable, up to five days in advance, which should make harnessing wave energy lot easier.

What's not good about wave energy?

Expensive technology that has just only started developing. Rough weather conditions require powerfully built wave energy projects which leads to high initial costs. The potential disruption of nearby marine ecosystems (noise and visual pollution).

Wave energy on global scale

Wave power is yet to have some impact on global scale, and currently there have been only few wave power project worthy to mention, like for instance the Aguçadoura Wave Park in Portugal. Harnessing wave energy must become commercially viable prior to being used on global scale.

Wave energy in United States

In the United States, the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative is funding the building of a commercial wave-power park at Reedsport, Oregon. US is currently not paying much attention to this renewable energy source.

Wave energy farms

As already said before the most famous wave farm in the world is the Aguçadoura Wave Park wave farm in Portugal, which was the world's first commercial wave farm. Currently world's largest working wave-energy system, was launched in Scotland's Orkney Islands in 2009 that has a peak power output of around 2MW.

Wave energy environmental impact

Harnessing wave energy has overall positive environmental impact, and the only possible negative consequences could be in form of noise and visual pollution, that could somewhat disrupt marine life in nearby area.

Wind power development in Canada - Overview

Wind power development may be slowing down in United States and EU but in Canada wind power is looking better than ever, and Canada is well on the right track to achieve a year of the record growth. Demand for wind power in Canada is bigger than ever with many new wind farms spreading across the country.

According to the latest reports from the Canadian Wind Energy Association, over 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy capacity is expected to be installed in Canada in 2011, so far the record year has been 2009 with the total installed wind power capacity of 950 megawatts.

Such strong development of wind power will not only bring many environmental but also many economic benefits for Canadians, for instance many new well payed green jobs.

Many new wind energy projects have been approved in the last couple of months, and more than 6,000 megawatts of new wind power capacity is expected to be installed over the next five years across the Canada.

Canada currently has around 3500 MW of installed wind power capacity, and by the end of this year this number should increase to more than 4000 MW, meaning that by the end of this year Canada will have enough wind capacity to provide power for close to 1,5 million homes.

It also has to be said that every Canadian province is generating at least some wind power, and that the leading provinces in wind power development are Quebec and Ontario. Over the next five years Quebec should add 3000 megawatts of new wind power capacity, and Ontario 1500 MW. This, together with new wind projects in other provinces should increase the share of wind power in Canada's total energy demand to 5% by the 2015. Currently, this percentage is at about 1,5 percent.

A supportive government policy is one of the main factors that have laid the foundations for this strong development of Canadian wind power sector. Canadians want more clean environmentally friendly energy sources instead of fossil fuels, and wind power may turn out to be a main driving force that will turn Canada into clean energy economy.

Americans want more clean energy and new energy policy

71 percent of Americans believe that US needs to lead in clean energy race, in terms of clean energy jobs and technologies." However, US will have tough time achieving this because China has taken convincing lead in global clean energy race, and Chinese are certainly not slowing down, in fact they are constantly increasing tempo, and US certainly has a lot of catching up to do. China is currently world's largest manufacturer of both wind turbines as well as solar panels, and accounts for more than one million clean energy jobs.

Over 56% of Americans agree the use of federal dollars to either directly support or to guarantee loans for the development of renewable energy sources, such as wind energy and solar energy. However, there are also 23% of Americans that would rather pick nuclear energy instead of renewable energy sources.

75 percent of Americans want energy policy that promotes clean power. Such policy would no doubt encourage innovation, create new jobs and make foundations for a stronger economy.

79 percent of Americans want clean energy revolution in form of orderly phasing out of fossil fuels and the phasing in of clean, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

The worrying discovery was the fact that 71 percent of Americans have only very small degree of confidence that current elected officials in the United States will act decisively on energy issues. However, if you analyze latest political moves regarding national renewable energy policy, it is easy to see why very few Americans have trust in US officials.

These were some of the most interesting findings coming from major new survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute.

These results clearly suggest that Americans want more clean, renewable energy, and that they are not satisfied with the current US energy policy, especially with China's dominance in clean energy race.

Iowa renewable energy statistics

Wind power is the most important renewable energy source in Iowa, and at the end of 2009 Iowa had 3670 MW of installed wind energy capacity, enough to power around 900,000 homes.

Iowa is currently the second ranked US state in installed wind power capacity, behind the Texas.

Iowa is 7th ranked US state in available wind energy potential.

In 2009, Iowa became the first US state that has more than 10% of its total generated electricity coming from wind power.

Iowa is the current nation's leader in ethanol production, producing about 3.3 billion gallons of ethanol per year, this is around 26% of total US ethanol production.

Iowa is second largest biodiesel producer in United States, and in 2009 Iowa's biodiesel refineries produced 73 million gallons of biodiesel. The full capacity of Iowa's biodiesel refineries is 320 million gallons.

Wind power currently generates about 15% of total electricity in Iowa.

At the end of 2009 Iowa had 400 MW of wind energy capacity under construction.

Each 1,000 megawatts of wind generation installed in Iowa has resulted in about $6 million in property taxes for counties.

Wind power manufacturing industry currently employs close to 3,500 people in Iowa.

China wind energy statistics

China is currently the second largest wind power producer, and at the end of 2009, wind power in China accounted for 25.1 GW of electricity generating capacity. If current trend continues China will in 2011 overtake US, and became the world's largest wind power producer.  China's installed wind farm capacity is expected to grow from present 25,800 MW to over 150,000 MW in 2020.

At the end of 2009 China had around 80 operational wind farms. In 2009 China built its first offshore wind farm, close to Shanghai Dongdaqiao, with a capacity of 102 MW. In fact, China plans to generate up to 30,000 megawatts of power from offshore wind farms by 2020.

In the last 5 years, China has each year more than doubled its wind power capacity, and the biggest growth occurred in 2009 when China added 13,800 MW of new wind power capacity.

China is also the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer. The latest numbers suggest that China manufactures 2 wind turbines per hour.

China still doesn't have enough transmission lines to support the growth of wind power industry, and according to recent data from the China Power Union, only 72% of China’s total wind power capacity was connected to the grid. This is the main reason why Chinese have embarked on a $60 billion effort to upgrade the country’s electricity transmission system over the next 10 years.

Wind power still accounts for only 1 percent of China's total electricity consumption despite the very strong growth in the last couple of years.

In 2000, China only had 350,000 kW of installed wind power capacity.

In 2009, around 50% of the large capacity windmills installed in China were manufactured in Denmark.

What types of energy are used in the US?

Up until recently US was the world's largest energy consumer but still only a small number of Americans actually knows what nation's energy use looks like, though majority knows that fossil fuels supply most of nation's energy demand.

In 2009, fossil fuels supplied around 84% of nation's energy demand, with 40% of this energy coming from petroleum (oil). On the other hand, coal, another member of the fossil fuel triad was the major source of US electricity accounting for around 49% of total US generated electricity. The third member of fossil fuel triad, natural gas, supplies around 23% of US energy demand, with many energy experts expecting natural gas share to grow in years to come, especially after the recent shale gas popularity.

These numbers imply that fossil fuels are still the most important energy sources in United States, and that renewable energy industry still has plenty to do in order to challenge oil, coal and natural gas.

When it comes to renewable energy sources in United States then it has to be said that hydropower and biomass are the two most dominant renewable energy sources in the world, though it also has to be said that wind power is lately experiencing the biggest growth of all renewable energy sources.

Hydropower currently statisfies around 7% and biomass around 4% of nation's energy demand. As said above wind power is currently the fastest growing renewable energy source in United States, and nation has even set a goal of achieving 20% of electricity coming from wind by 2020. If the current growth of wind power installations continues this goal should be achieved with relative ease, especially if US decides to develop strong offshore wind energy sector.

The much talked about solar power is still only making headlines in media instead of actually having significant impact in nation's energy use. Many Americans believe in solar power as the best possible renewable energy option but despite this solar power satisfies less than one percent of nation's energy demand. This is mostly because solar panels are still relatively expensive, and somewhat inefficient compared to efficiency of fossil fuels, which makes solar energy a too expensive renewable energy option for many Americans.

US is global leader in installed geothermal capacity but this doesn't mean much when it comes to energy use because geothermal energy currently meets less than 1% of nation's energy needs, which is way too little given the geothermal potential of some US states such as California and Nevada.

Given the current situation it is realistic to expect that fossil fuels will continue their dominance when it comes to nation's energy use because renewable energy needs time to develop desired efficiency and costs. Without reaching competitiveness in terms of efficiency and costs renewable energy cannot seriously challenge fossil fuels, even with the strong federal and local support.

Canada renewable energy statistics

Renewable energy currently supplies around 16.5% of Canada's primary energy supply.

Canada is currently world's second largest producer of hydroelectricity (behind China), accounting for 11,7% of global hydroelectricity. Canada currently generates around 59% of its electricity from hydropower.

Most of Canada's hydropower capacity belongs to Hydro-Québec's extensive network of 59 hydroelectric dams with a combined capacity of 34,118 megawatts.

Robert-Bourassa hydroelectric power plant on the La Grande River is not only the largest hydroelectric power plant in Canada but also in North America, and has a capacity of 5,616 MW.

At the end of 2009 wind power supplied approximately 1,1% of Canada's demand for electricity.

In the January of 2010 Canada had approximately 3,249 MW of wind power capacity coming from 99 wind farms.

Ontario is the leading province in installed wind power capacity with the 1161.5 MW, followed by Quebec with 659 MW. This situation could change within the next five years because Quebec plans to add new 2671.5 MW of wind power capacity by 2015, and Ontario just 647.2.

Canadians are very supportive of new renewable energy projects, survey by Angus Reid Strategies in 2007 showed that 89% of Canadians support using renewable energy sources like wind or solar power.

The largest wind farm in Canada is the Wolfe Island Wind Farm, Ontario with the capacity of 198 MW.

In April 2010, Canada approved 184 large solar power projects with a total worth close to a $8 billion.

Canada's wind power industry currently employs around 4500 people.

Canada's average annual market growth for photovoltaics has been over 20% for the last ten years.

Canada currently has the only tidal power plant in North America, at Annapolis Royal, on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. This tidal power plant has the capacity of 20 MW.

US geothermal energy statistics

US is global geothermal energy leader with an installed geothermal capacity of 3,086 megawatts (MW) in 2010.

Geothermal energy is the fourth most important renewable energy source in the United States (behind hydropower, biomass and wind power) accounting for around 4% of renewable energy-based electricity consumption in the U.S.

United States generates around 15 billion kilowatt hours of geothermal power per year, which makes around 30% of the world's total.

US currently has 77 geothermal power plant, most of which are located in California (43).

California is the leading US state in installed geothermal power capacity with a total output bigger than 2500 MW.

The most active geothermal energy area in United States is the Geysers, California. The Geysers is large geothermal facility consisting of 22 geothermal power plants (dry steam), with total capacity bigger than 1500 MW.

An average geothermal power plant in United States emits around 122 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity.

Average geothermal power plant in United States needs approximately 20 litres of freshwater per MWh, and 3.5 square kilometres per gigawatt of electrical production.

Operational and maintenance costs of geothermal power plants in United States are $0.01 - $0.03 per kWh.

Geothermal power plants in United States have installation costs of around $2500 per installed kW.

More than 90 percent of US geothermal resources are found on federal lands.

Top three geothermal energy producers in United States are California, Nevada and Utah.

US installs more than 50,000 geothermal heat pumps each year.

Geothermal energy currently satisfies around 20% of Hawaii's power demand.

US geothermal energy sector has experienced growth of 26% in 2009.

Ten reasons why US should go for offshore wind power

1. US has enormous offshore wind energy potential. US could produce more than 4,000 GW of electricity from offshore wind — four times the nation’s current generating capacity from all other energy sources.

2. Offshore wind energy projects have significantly larger efficiency compared to wind projects on land because offshore winds are much more powerful and blow with significantly higher frequency than the ones on land.

3. With well developed offshore wind energy sector US would improve its energy security.

4. With well developed offshore wind energy sector US would be more energy independent, and wouldn't have to rely so much on foreign fuel import.

5. The strong development of offshore wind industry would create many well payed renewable energy jobs. For instance, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory calculated that if US would develop at least 54 gigawatts of offshore wind energy (the amount needed to reach the goal of producing 20 percent of its electricity from wind by 2030) then this would mean around 45,000 well payed jobs within the domestic offshore wind industry.

6. Global offshore wind energy market will grow significantly in years to come, and developing strong offshore wind energy sector could mean better competitiveness with China in clean energy race.

7. Offshore wind farms could be built significantly larger compared to the ones on land, which means that they could produce lot more electricity.

8. Offshore wind farms carry very small environmental risks.

9. Offshore wind farms are not connected with complaints about visual appeal since most of them are barely visible from the land.

10. Offshore wind energy sector could give boost to US wind energy sector that is somewhat stagnating in 2010, after the tremendous growth in 2008 and 2009.

Wind power - The best option for clean energy future?

Wind power is regarded by many as the renewable energy source that should play key role in satisfying world's ever-increasing hunger for energy, while at the same time help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to strengthening of the climate change impact. Wind power is one of the most cost-competitive renewable energy sources, and so not only popular from environmental but also from economic point of view.

Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) predicts that world's wind power generation capacity will reach 1,000 gigawatt (GW) by 2020, and will further grow to 2,300 GW by 2030. United States, China and Germany should continue to be global leaders in installed wind power capacity.

If these predictions turn out to be true then wind power should meet around 12% of global energy demand by 2020 and around 22% by 2030. This would of course make wind power the most important renewable energy resource in the world.

In order for such scenario to happen the countries will continue to invest in wind power by building more wind farms (especially offshore) and more transmission lines. Wind power also needs to maintain popular among public because huge public support also means support from politics in form of supportive legislation.

The recent studies have calculated that 1,000 GW of installed capacity by 2020 would ensure savings of up to 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year, which represents 50-75 per cent of the cumulative emissions reductions committed by industrialized nations.

Wind power certainly looks like one of the best renewable energy options to ensure this world a clean energy future.

UK will push for more offshore wind energy

UK is currently the global leader in installed offshore wind power capacity, and plans to further strengthen this position by installing more offshore wind power capacity in years to come. Many UK energy experts are convinced that Britain's offshore energy is not only enough to satisfy Britain's energy needs but could also be exported to other countries.

Britain was once, not so long ago, a net energy exporter during the peak of oil and gas in the North Sea. North Sea could once again turn out to be a British energy haven, this time not because of oil and gas but because of offshore wind energy and other renewable marine technologies.

According to the latest study harnessing just over 75% of the available offshore energy resource would produce enough renewable power for the UK to power its own economy and export excess electricity to northern Europe. What this means is that offshore wind energy could become as important to Britain as the oil was during the peak period.

Achieving such growth of offshore wind power will not be easy. The primary reason is the fact that offshore wind farms are connected with high costs because they need to be linked with the continent, and to achieve this Britain needs to built lot more transmission lines.

Britain is already a member of North Seas Countries' Offshore Grid Initiative, a group consisting of nine countries that plan to develop an international "supergrid" allowing countries across northern Europe to import and export renewable electricity.

UK government has already announced major spending cuts but many energy experts are convinced that this rule will not apply to offshore wind power, and a lot talked about £60m plan to upgrade the North Sea ports that will support offshore wind farms should soon start its realization.

Offshore wind power, despite its huge potential, will have to decrease its high installation costs, and according to some latest findings and analysis the costs of offshore wind farms could decrease by as much as 40% by 2020, making offshore wind energy much more competitive with fossil fuels.

UK is currently attracting many companies that are ready to invest in new offshore wind energy projects. Offshore wind energy projects are currently, even despite the high costs, more popular compared to wind projects on land because they are less likely to face the planning objections that usually present a major stumbling block to onshore wind developments. The big plus is also the UK's well developed oil and gas industry with lot of qualified personnel who have the necessary experience, and are used to work in marine environments.

US solar energy statistics

United States has experienced rapid growth of solar power industry in the last couple of years but still solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of United States electricity use.

The largest solar power installation in United States (and also in the world) is the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility in California, with a total capacity of 354 megawatts (MW).

Solar power is very popular renewable energy option in US with 75% of Americans wanting to see more solar power plants developed on public lands.

In 2009, US solar energy industry experienced growth of 37%.

In 2009, domestic manufacturing of solar power technologies in US increased by 7%.

California leads the way in installed solar capacity in US with 1,102 MW. The second ranked is the state of New Jersey that is far behind with 128 MW.

If we look at the watts per capita numbers we can see that Nevada is the nation's leader with 37.8 watts per capita of solar capacity, followed by California with 29,8, and Hawaii with 20,9.

At the end of 2009 the total installed solar power capacity in US was enough to supply more than 350,000 US homes.

In 2009, solar energy industry accounted for more than 17,000 new green jobs in United States.

US currently produces less than 5% of world's solar cells.

By the year 2020, given current trend of growth and government's support, US solar power industry should account for more than 200,000 new green jobs.

The United States is currently the third largest photovoltaic market, behind Germany and Italy.

Photovoltaic market in Germany still looks good

The first two thirds of this year look more than positive for German photovoltaic industry with demand growing by 300% compared to the same period of last year. The numbers show that in the first eight months of this year Germany installed more than 4.8 GWp photovoltaic systems, which translated on global level means that Germany roughly accounts for approximately half of all photovoltaic systems installed worldwide in 2010.

In entire last year, Germany installed 3.8 GWp photovoltaic systems, meaning that this year Germany has strengthened even more its reputation as the world's largest photovoltaic market.

Such large and fast growing market is attracting many solar companies in Germany, especially since Germany also boasts a well established industrial infrastructure, with large equipment supplier base, and qualified and experienced personnel.

Current feed-in-tariffs in Germany are also very supportive of new photovoltaic projects with rates ranging from 24.26 - 33.03 EURc/kWh for installations connected during the remainder of 2010.

It will be very interesting to see whether German photovoltaic market will continue to grow at such accelerated rate in the next few years without the help of such supportive feed-in-tariffs. While some energy experts expect steady decline of German photovoltaic industry the others believe that growth will still continue, regardless of feed-in-tariffs.

German solar industry currently employs more than 50,000 people.

Wind power should have bright future

Wind power is not some latest trend in energy because windmills have been around for many centuries, and the only thing that is relatively new is the conversion of wind energy into electricity with the help of wind turbines. Wind turbines have first appeared in Denmark, 120 years ago, but for many years they have been used very rarely, in fact it took more than 80 years before world started to take notice of them, which happened after oil crisis in 1970s, which increased the price of fossil fuels, and forced many governments to look at the potential alternative energy solutions.

Since that period wind turbines have become much more technologically advanced, and in the last couple of years wind power has become the fastest growing renewable energy source on global scale, and the most popular renewable energy source in United States.

Many governments across the globe support the growth of wind power industry by offering different incentives, and thanks to these efforts wind power has become one of the cheapest renewable energy option, with one kilowatt-hour of wind energy costing in average between four and six cents.

Wind turbines transform wind energy into electricity. In most cases we have three blades attached to rotor, and once wind starts the blades, the fans spin a cylindrical, low-speed shaft inside the rotor. In order for blades to start spinning wind needs to blow at adequate speeds (usually above 8 miles per hour). Shaft also contains a gearbox, which increases the rotational speed to about 1,000 to 1,800 revolutions per minute on another shaft, and drives the generator. Several electromagnets surrounding a coiled wire induce a voltage in the shaft, and the voltage then transfers an electrical current out of the turbine and into power lines.

Wind energy is popular renewable energy source because it doesn't contribute to global warming since it doesn't produce carbon or any other greenhouse gas emissions like fossil fuels do. Wind energy cannot be depleted like fossil fuels which will eventually be depleted, and thus wind power can provide energy security in years to come.

However, like any other energy source, wind energy isn't the perfect solution, and also has some drawbacks. There are still some issues that need to be solved, most notably intermittency issue because as you already know wind doesn't blow all the time, and in order to compensate for this science needs to find some cheap energy storage solution that would provide us with enough power in times when wind doesn't blow. Since wind farms are usually build in isolated areas wind power requires plenty transmission lines to connect these isolated areas with large cities, and this is often connected with high costs.

Hopefully, in years to come, wind power technologies will become even more technologically advanced as well as economically viable, and further help cut our dependence on fossil fuels.

US coal statistics

Currently, 26 US states produce coal, and the largest coal producing state is Wyoming.

Coal is currently the most abundant fossil fuel in United States, and if US continues to use coal in the future at the same rate as today, it should have enough coal for the next 300 years.

Coal is more cost effective compared to oil and natural gas, in average 3,5 times more cheaper than oil and natural gas.

More than 90% of US coal is used to generate electricity.

24.8% of world's coal reserves are found within the United States.

Coal currently accounts for around 45% of US electricity production.

In 2009, US total primary coal production was 1,072,752 thousand short tons. The total coal consumption in the same year was 1,000,424 thousand short tons.

In 2009 United States imported 22,639 thousand short tons of coal, significantly less than 34,208 in 2008, mostly due to the financial crisis.

In 2009, US exported 59,097 thousand short tons of coal.

In 2009, the total US CO2 emissions resulted from the consumption of the coal were 2,125.168 million metric tons.

In the last 40 years, coal production in United States has increased by 71%.

In the United States, the most efficient coal power plants achieve efficiency of around 40 percent. The typical efficiency for coal power plant is 34,3%.

Coal power plants have operation and maintenance costs at approximately 0.75 cents per kilowatt hour, and a total fuel and operating costs averaging at 2.83 cents per kilowatt hour.

US currently has over 600 coal power plants.

Coal power plants are losing popularity in United States because coal is labeled as the dirtiest fuel, mostly responsible for climate change issue; this is the main reason why more than 90% of new power plants that will be built in the United States will likely be fueled by natural gas, which is a less polluting fossil fuel compared to coal.

France nuclear power statistics

Nuclear power is the main source of electricity in France, accounting for around 78% of its total electricity, which is the highest percentage in the world.

France accounts for almost half (47%) of total EU's nuclear electricity.

France currently has 59 operational nuclear reactors with total capacity of over 63 GWe.

In the last 20 years France has invested over $160 billion in the development of domestic nuclear power industry.

Only United States has more nuclear power capacity installed than France. France currently accounts for 15,8% of total world's nuclear electricity.

Majority of nuclear reactors in France belong to 900 MWe class (34 of them), and most of them were built in 1970s and the early 1980s.

Strong nuclear power sector is the main reason why France is the world's largest net exporter of electricity.

France imports most of the uranium from Canada and Niger.

Despite the strong nuclear power sector around 70% of the total energy consumed in France still comes from fossil fuels.

Thanks to its nuclear power plants, France's CO2 emissions per kWh are less than 1/10 that of Germany and the UK.

California geothermal energy statistics

California is the largest geothermal power producer in the United States with more than 2,500 MW of currently installed geothermal power capacity, enough to power 2,5 million US homes.

California has 43 operational geothermal power plants, most of them are being located at Geysers, area near the San Francisco with 37 geothermal projects in development which could amount to up to 1997.7 MW, enough to power an additional 2 million homes in California.

Geothermal energy currently accounts for around 5% of state's electricity.

Geothermal energy is currently harnessed in 24 countries in the world, California currently has more geothermal power on-line than any of the 23 other countries with geothermal power.

The US Department of Energy awarded $47.4 million to 22 geothermal projects in California to produce even more geothermal power.

California is currently second ranked US state in number of new geothermal energy projects (with 37), behind Nevada's 64 projects under development with the potential for nearly 3,500 MW of new geothermal capacity.

The Geysers, a complex of 22 geothermal power plants 72 miles north of San Francisco has 1517 MW of active installed geothermal power capacity.

California solar energy statistics

California is the longtime nation leader in installed solar power capacity, at the end of 2009, California had an installed cumulative solar power capacity of 1,102 megawatts, 10 times more than second ranked New Jersey.

In 2008 California installed 158 MW of solar photovoltaics, more than doubling 2007 amount of 78 MW.

In 2009, California installed 200 megawatts of solar capacity, almost four times the amount of New Jersey, the second ranked US solar state.

Solar energy sector in 2009 added more than 5000 renewable energy jobs in California. It is estimated that more than 30,000 people are employed by solar energy industry in California.

California has the world's largest solar power plant, the 354 MW SEGS thermal power plant.

It has been calculated that California has total solar power potential to install almost 17 million MW of solar power capacity.

California currently has little less than 70,000 solar energy projects.

California is currently on the right track to achieve its goal in installing 3,000 MW of photovoltaics (PV) by 2016.

In the first three quarters of 2009 California installed 250 MW of solar PV.

If current solar power growth trend continues, California will by 2017 reach its million solar roofs goal.