Images of renewable energy technologies (wind turbine, solar panel, hydroelectric dam, a tidal wave, etc.) and a map of the world

The Renewable Energy Data Book for 2016 provides facts and figures on renewable energy deployment in the United States, with context of U.S. and global energy trends. Facts include renewable electricity capacity, generation, and capacity additions for U.S. and global electricity and energy as a whole, and for specific renewable electricity generation technologies. The data book was released in December 2017, containing then recently available statistics for the 2016 calendar year in the following sections:

- Section I: U.S. Energy Background Information (pp. 6–16):
Total U.S. energy production and consumption as a whole and by sector, as well as total U.S. electricity capacity, generation, capacity additions, and retirements

- Section II: Renewable Electricity in the United States (pp. 17–40):
U.S. capacity and generation, capacity added and percentage change, top states and regions for installed capacity

- Section III: Global Renewable Energy Development (pp. 41–51):
Global capacity and capacity growth, top countries for installed capacity

- Sections IV–XI: (Technology-Specific Data and Trends for Renewable Electricity and Sustainable Transportation Technologies) Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Biopower, Hydropower, Marine and Hydrokinetic Power, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, Renewable and Alternative Fuels (pp. 52–107):
Total installed capacity, states and countries leading in capacity, states leading in capacity additions, and other useful information including solar manufacturing data, total number of fuel cell system shipments, alternative fueling stations by state, U.S. average wind turbine size, and marine and hydrokinetic pilot deployment and test sites.

  • Wind (pp. 52–60)

  • Solar (pp. 61–69)

  • Geothermal (pp. 70–75)

  • Biopower (pp. 76–80)

  • Hydropower (pp. 81–85)

  • Marine and Hydrokinetic Power (pp. 86–90)

  • Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (pp. 91–97)

  • Renewable and Alternative Fuels (pp. 98–107), including biodiesel subsection (pp. 105–107)

- Section XII: Clean Energy Investments:
U.S. and global investments by type, new investments, public renewable energy index performance

Other pages of note:

  • Key Findings (pp. 3–4)
  • Table of Contents (p. 5)
  • Principal Data Sets (p. 123)
  • References (pp. 124–130)
  • Glossary (pp. 119–123)
  • Acknowledgments and Notes (p. 2)

The data book is funded by the Strategic Priorities and Impact Analysis Team in the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and is produced by the Strategic Energy Analysis Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Data comes from the American Wind Association, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Energy Information Administration, the Global Wind Energy Council, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, the Renewable Fuels Association, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and GTM Research.

Data Book Preview

See sample pages below. Go to the 2016 Renewable Energy Data Book to see the entire data book in PDF format.

RE Data Book 2016 Preview

1/13 U.S. Energy Production and Consumption (2016) - Section I, p. 7
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2/13 U.S. Electricity Nameplate Capacity and Generation (2016) - Section I, p. 10
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3/13 U.S. Electricity Generating Capacity Additions and Retirements (2016) - Section I, p. 13
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4/13 U.S. Capacity and Generation - All Renewables - Section II, p. 20
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5/13 Top Countries with Installed Renewable Electricity Capacity by Technology (2016) - Section III, p. 51
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6/13 Top States with Cumulative Renewable Electricity Capacity (2016) - Section II, p. 32
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7/13 U.S. PV Electricity Installed Capacity and Generation - Section V, p. 64
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8/13 Annual Total Number of Fuel Cell Shipments Shipped by Application, World Markets - Section V, p. 94
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9/13 Renewable and Alternative Fueling Stations by State (2016) - Section XI, p. 100
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10/13 Key Findings - p. 3
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11/13 Key Findings (continued) - p. 4
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12/13 Principal Data Sets - p. 123
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