While winds were blamed for spreading wildfires that raged across parts of the High Plains in early March, they are also being credited with boosting wind power’s share in High Plains states, including Colorado.
As The Denver Post reports, solar and wind power for the first time accounted for 10 percent of a month’s electricity generated in the U.S.
That according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report released last week that shows roughly 24 percent of all March electricity production in Colorado came from wind and solar. That exceeds the 18 percent the state saw for all of 2017, which officials say could be attributed, in part, to the month’s strong winds.
Christopher Worley, director of policy and research at the Colorado Energy Office, said Colorado’s efforts to increase its reliance on renewable energy sources have been “ahead of the curve.”
Only seven states — including Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and California — had a bigger share of electricity generated by renewables in 2016.