Dive Brief:
Ninety-five local governments across 33 states procured 3,638 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy generation capacity in 2020 through 143 deals, the largest amount of capacity ever added in one year, according to the latest update from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and World Resources Institute (WRI) in their Local Government Renewables Action Tracker.
The 143 transactions, a 23% increase over 2019’s levels, could generate enough electricity to power approximately 812,000 households annually, the organizations reported. Solar was the most popular renewable energy to be procured, at 79% of all deals, followed by wind at 17% and geothermal at 4%.
The newly shared data also show the average size of those deals increased from 14 MW in 2015 to 26 MW in 2020. Those figures included some notable city-level deals: Houston's agreement to purchase around 492 MW of off-site solar, which is the largest solar procurement and largest renewable energy deal ever signed by a local government; and Los Angeles' purchase of 331 MW of wind power, the largest wind deal ever completed at the local level.