Wind Largest Source of New Power in 2007

Ecogeek says that the US Department of Energy has reported that of 8.6 gigawatts of new electrical generation capacity installed in 2007, 5 gw were produced by windmills, with most of the rest supplied by natural gas. New coal plants provided about 1 gw, but with retirements of coal-fired boilers, coal -generated power shrank by 200 megawatts. The DoE put it this way:

"In 2007, for the first time, renewable energy sources, other than conventional hydroelectric capacity, accounted for the largest portion of capacity additions. Total net summer capacity increased 8,673 MW in 2007. Wind capacity accounted for 5,186 MW of this new capacity. Natural gas-fired generation accounted for 4,582 MW. Two new coal-fired plants with summer capacity totaling 1,354 MW were placed in service in 2007. However, retirements and downward adjustments to existing capacity resulted in a 217 MW net reduction in coal-fired capacity."

Interestingly, the amount of electricity generated by coal grew to its highest level ever. "In 2007, electricity generation from coal-fired capacity increased 1.3 percent, reversing the decline from 2005 to 2006. Coal-fired generation increased from 1,991 million MWh in 2006 to 2,016 million MWh in 2007. This is a new record, exceeding the previous all-time high of 2,013 million MWh set in 2005." However, "[i]n spite of setting a record level for generation in 2007, coal’s share of total net generation continued its downward trend in 2007. It accounted for 48.5 percent of total net generation in 2007 as compared to 49.0 percent in 2006 and 52.8 percent in 1997. Nevertheless, it remains the primary source of baseload generation. The decline in coal’s share of total net generation in 2007 was attributable to continued increase in the share of total net generation produced by natural gas-fired and nuclear capacity, as well as renewable sources, other than conventional hydroelectric capacity. "

An interesting development. For those interested in the details, the report can be found here. I didn't see cost comparisons of the various types of generation, but they may be somewhere in the report. It would be interesting to compare the cost of wind power, without subsidies, against other sources of power.