Renewable Energy Generation Resource
This page of the Summary of Trends section summarizes the resource-specific renewable energy generation data at the state level. The following tables identify the leading states for each renewable resource listed below:
The availability of a renewable resource within a state has a great effect on the level of in-state generation possible. However, resource availability is clearly not the only factor determining the level of generation. Policy incentives can play a major role in whether the resources are developed. It is important that policies consider specific resource availability within a state, and encourage the development of the state's natural resources while avoiding the inefficient development of suboptimal resources. Policies, however, should be re-examined periodically, because technological development continually expands the opportunities to economically exploit less-optimal resources. This is especially evident in the wind market where resources that were considered suboptimal less than a decade ago are now economical (due to more efficient wind turbines).
These complicated resource factors only partly describe the many elements at play in the development of renewable resources.; The section on Other Factors Affecting Renewable Energy Development (Chapter 5 in the report) provides more detail on this topic.
For more details on renewable energy generation, see Chapter 2 of the full report "State of the States 2009: Renewable Energy Development and the Role of Policy" (PDF 4.2 KB), which ranks all of the states for each resource and for each metric (total generation, generation as a percent of total state generation, generation per capita, and generation per gross state product). It also provides growth rankings for each resource from 2001 to 2007, and from 2006 to 2007. Download Adobe Reader.
