CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – West Virginia ranks fifth in the nation for growth in battery storage since 2010, according to a new report released today by Environment America Research & Policy Center. The project, Renewables on the Rise 2020, documents and compares the growth of five key clean energy technologies in each state over the past decade: solar power, wind power, battery storage, energy efficiency and electric vehicles. West Virginia has also seen wind energy production nearly double since 2010.
“This report shows that clean energy isn’t just our future, but it’s our present,” said Ben Sonnega, Advocate with Environment America Research & Policy Center. “The gains we’ve seen, especially in wind energy and battery storage should give West Virginians the confidence we need to aim even higher and continue picking up the pace.”
In addition to highlighting states that have made the most progress in adopting renewable energy technologies, the study also shows the rapid gains achieved overall nationally. In 2019, the U.S. produced 30 times more solar power and more than triple the amount of wind energy than it did in 2010. In addition to the growth in renewable energy, utility scale battery storage increased 20-fold since 2010, energy consumption per person declined thanks to improvements in energy efficiency, and more than one million electric vehicles were sold in the U.S.
“This project offers a timely reminder that clean energy technologies have risen to the occasion, and are already delivering for millions of Americans and West Virginians,” Sonnega said. “We are so much closer to the clean, renewable energy future we need than we were ten years ago, and we should keep working to ensure that the next decade brings us even further.”
