Red states leading the US in solar and wind production, new report shows

theguardian.com:

A new report by Climate Central shows how US capacity to generate renewable energy shot up last year – and surprisingly, red states lead the nation in solar and wind power production.

National wind and solar capacity grew 16% compared to 2021. All told, renewables generated enough electricity to power 64m American households. The report comes as the Biden administration starts to make billions of dollars available for renewable energy projects.The administration has committed to decarbonizing the grid completely by 2030 and getting the US to net zero emissions by mid-century.

“We are moving closer to the goals we need to reach in order to hit net zero,” said Jennifer Brady, a senior data analyst at Climate Central. “We have a free natural resource in the form of weather that can be captured to generate power.”

Climate action has often been stymied at the local and federal levels by Republican leaders. But the new report shows Iowa and Oklahoma – all of which have Republican governors and majority Republican state legislatures – led the nation in wind power production, while California and Florida were the largest producers of solar power. Texas is a leader in both solar and wind power.

“It’s good to have a national distribution of renewable energy, and seeing states building them up is a positive thing,” said Brady. The growth of renewable energy capacity in these states show the effectiveness of state and federal incentives.

There are several reasons why wind energy has grown by leaps in Texas. The state has been proactive in building out transmission lines to bring wind power to businesses and homes, which means future wind farms can easily connect to this grid. These investments allow the state to take advantage of its