page_title: Energy policy of the United States
section_title: Renewable energy
hierarchical_section_title: Energy policy of the United States / Sources / Renewable energy
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Vor rund 15 Jahren gingen die ersten kommerziellen Parabolrinnen-Kraftwerke mit insgesamt 354 Megawatt in Kalifornien ans Netz. Bis heute haben sie mehr als die Hälfte des weltweit erzeugten Solarstroms produziert und dabei über 1,6 Milliarden US-Dollar erwirtschaftet. (Stand: 2004)
context_page_description: The energy policy of the United States is determined by federal, state, and local entities in the United States, which address issues of energy production, distribution, and consumption, such as building codes and gas mileage standards. Energy policy may include legislation, international treaties, subsidies and incentives to investment, guidelines for energy conservation, taxation and other public policy techniques.
  Several mandates have been proposed over the years, such as gasoline will never exceed $1.00/gallon, and the United States will never again import as much oil as it did in 1977, but no comprehensive long-term energy policy has been proposed, although there has been concern over this failure. Three Energy Policy Acts have been passed, in 1992, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009 which include many provisions for conservation, such as the Energy Star program, and energy development, with grants and tax incentives for both renewable energy and non-renewable energy.
context_section_description: Renewable energy in the United States accounted for 12.9 percent of the domestically produced electricity in 2013. Renewable energy reached a major milestone in the first quarter of 2011, when it contributed 11.7 percent of total U.S. energy production at 2.245 quadrillion British thermal units (658 terawatt-hours), surpassing energy production from nuclear power at 2.125 quadrillion British thermal units (623 TWh). 2011 was the first year since 1997 that renewables exceeded nuclear in US total energy production.
  Hydroelectric power is currently the largest producer of renewable power in the U.S. It produced around 6.2% of the nation's total electricity in 2010 which was 60.2% of the total renewable power in the U.S. The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China, Canada and Brazil. The Grand Coulee Dam is the 5th largest hydroelectric power station in the world.
  U.S. wind power installed capacity now exceeds 65,000 MW. For calendar year 2014, the electricity produced from wind power in the United States amounted to 181.79 terawatt-hours, or 4.44% of all generated electrical energy. Texas is firmly established as the leader in wind power development, followed by Iowa and California.
  Several large solar thermal power stations have also been built.  The largest of these solar thermal power stations is the SEGS group of plants in the Mojave Desert with a total generating capacity of 354 MW, making the system the largest solar plant of any kind in the world. As of 2015, the largest photovoltaic (PV) power plant in North America is Solar Star, a 579 megawatt photovoltaic power station near Rosamond, California. The Geysers in Northern California is the largest complex of geothermal energy production in the world.
  With 2,957 MW of installed geothermal capacity, the United States remains the world leader with 30% of the online capacity total. As of early 2009, 120 new projects are underway. When developed, these projects could potentially supply up to 3,979 MW of power, meeting the needs of about 4 million homes. At this rate of development, geothermal production in the United States could exceed 15,000 MW by 2025.
  The development of renewable energy and energy efficiency marks "a new era of energy exploration" in the United States, according to President Barack Obama. In a joint address to the Congress on February 24, 2009, President Obama called for doubling renewable energy within the next three years. In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama restated his commitment to renewable energy and mentioned the long-standing Interior Department commitment to permit 10,000 MW of renewable energy projects on public land in 2012.
  President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included more than $70 billion in direct spending and tax credits for clean energy and associated transportation programs. This policy-stimulus combination represents the largest federal commitment in U.S. history for renewable energy, advanced transportation, and energy conservation initiatives. As a result of these new initiatives, many more utilities are expected to strengthen their clean energy programs. In February 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy launched its SunShot initiative, a collaborative national effort to cut the total cost of photovoltaic solar energy systems by 75% by 2020. Reaching this goal would make unsubsidized solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity and get grid parity .
caption: Part of the 354 MW SEGS solar complex in northern San Bernardino County, California.
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