America's Renewable Energy Future Isn't Evenly Distributed

The United States generated close to 10% of its total electricity from wind and solar in 2018. The share of modern renewables in the nation's power mix is expected to grow to 13% by 2020 and could reach 30% by 2030. The impressive growth can be attributed to a combination of technological improvements, cost declines, and state policies. But the growth hasn't been evenly distributed. Thirty-eight percent of America's solar power capacity is installed in California. One-quarter of the country's wind power capacity is spinning in Texas, while 66% is contained within the 11 states in the American Wind Corridor, which runs roughly down the center of the Lower 48. There's a 360,000-square-mile swath of the Southeast, spanning seven whole states, that isn't home to a single wind turbine. And the Eastern Seaboard is furiously building natural-gas pipelines and power plants -- even converting coal-fired power plants to run on gas.