Percent of Electric Power Generated from Renewable Sources

Visualization Notes:

The production of electric power from renewable sources has been declining since 1997, when it peaked at 15.4% of total production.  An increase of almost three percentage points to 9.0% of the total energy generated in Arizona in 2011, up from 6.2% in 2010, is the highest percentage in a decade and an encouraging sign.  The Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST), approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2006, mandates that 15 percent of energy production in the State of Arizona be from renewable sources by 2025.  Much work needs to be done on increasing renewable energy sources in Arizona to meet this goal.

Visualization Notes:

CLICKING ON "Hydro Conventional" WILL REMOVE SERIES FROM CHART, SHOWING OTHER SOURCES

Presently, close to 95% of Arizona's renewable energy is generated by hydroelectricity.  Hydroelectric production may continue to decrease due to the ongoing drought, and may further decrease in the future due to climate change.  Wind energy has come on strong in the past three years that it has been in existence, and energy from wood and wood derived fuels also contributes to the mix.  Production of solar energy is growing, but still lags behind what would be expected in a sunshine rich state like Arizona.

Notes: Hydro Conventional does not include pumped storage.  Solar includes solar thermal and photovoltaic. Wood and Wood Derived Fuels includes paper pellets, railroad ties, utility poles, wood chips, bark, red liquor, sludge wood, spent sulfite liquor, and black liquor, with other wood waste solids and wood-based liquids. Other Biomass includes biogenic municipal solid waste, landfill gas, sludge waste, agricultural byproducts, other biomass solids, other biomass liquids, and other biomass gases (including digester gases and methane). Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding.

(*) Value is less than 0.5 of the table metric, but value is included in any associated total.  
NA = No data reported.

Visualization Notes:

Less than one-tenth of one percent (0.077%) of the total electricity produced in Arizona in 2011 came from solar power; however, that is over a 500 percent increase from the previous year. Solar capacity is growing and a greater percentage of Arizona's electricity in upcoming years should be produced by solar power. The state’s first wind farm near Holbrook began generating electricity in 2009 and although less than three one-hundredths of one percent (0.027%) of the total energy produced in the state was from wind power in 2009, this was double the percentage of energy produced from solar sources that year. The percentage produced by wind power grew by four and a half times in year two of production, to 0.121% of the total energy produced in Arizona in 2010, and continues to increase, almost doubling in 2011 to 0.236% . This is still a miniscule amount of the total energy generated in the state, but it is a step in the right direction.