Every year America retires old generation and builds new power plants. In 2012, the amount of new generation built was among the top years for new capacity.
But the amount of new generation built in 2013 declined sharply. New generation fell to 14,207 megawatts from 29,710 megawatts in 2012, with a plunge in wind mainly causing the decline.
http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2013/dec-energy-infrastructure.pdf.
New wind construction hit all time records of more than 12,000 megawatts in 2012, but last year was one of wind's weakest. Just 1,129 megawatts of new wind came on line during 2013.
Wind will rebound in 2014 and may even challenge its record 2012 levels. Also, solar will set another annual record this year.
The combination of higher amounts of new wind and solar generation insures that America will build more new generation in 2014 than in 2013. And a majority of it will produce zero air emissions and have zero fuel costs! That will make America cleaner and more competitive.
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