The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) released a report on September 14 that compiles data on renewable energy developments, resource potentials, and financial, market, and policy information on a state-by-state basis. The report is intended to be an executive summary of the renewable energy sector in each state.

The state summaries show the wide range of renewable energy development in the United States, ranging from Louisiana, with only 200 kilowatts of grid-connected solar power and production capabilities for 1.5 million gallons of biofuels per year, to California, with 2.7 gigawatts of wind power, 2.6 gigawatts of geothermal power, 1.1 gigawatts of grid-connected solar power, 705 megawatts of biomass power, and production capabilities for nearly 200 million gallons of biofuels per year.

The report also notes the state policies that helped to accomplish that scale of deployment. In California, such policies include a renewable energy requirement; a mandate for utilities to provide grid connections and net metering for solar and wind energy systems; a program to invest $2.17 billion in grid-connected solar power over 10 years; a feed-in tariff for renewable energy systems; and a number of other rebates, tax incentives, and financing programs for renewable energy.

ACORE will provide quarterly updates for the online, interactive report, titled “Renewable Energy in America,” which is available on the ACORE Web site.

Kevin Eber is a senior science writer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In that capacity, he has promoted energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies for nearly 20 years.

This article was first published in the U.S. Department of Energy’s EERE Network News and was reprinted with permission.