It’s a conundrum which has occupied minds at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for some time. Just how much renewable capacity can the US accommodate?
Now one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind finds that onshore federal lands in the contiguous US could technically support over 7,700 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity.
The US has technical potential for 5,750 GW of utility-scale photovoltaics (solar), 875 GW of land-based wind, 130 GW of hydrothermal, and 975 GW of enhanced geothermal generation.
Even with more stringent siting constraints, such as land use for conservation, livestock grazing, recreation and military use, such technical potential equates to 1,750 GW for utility-scale solar and 70 GW for land-based wind.
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