For first time ever, renewables surpass coal in US power mix

For the clearest sign yet that renewable energy has gone mainstream, consider this: Clean energy resources supplied more of America’s electricity than coal for the first time ever in April. Hydropower dams, solar panels and wind turbines generated almost 68.5-million megawatt-hours of power in April, eclipsing the 60-million that coal produced that month, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data released late Tuesday show. That’s the most clean power the US has ever made – and the least coal it has burned for power in years.