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Renewable energy in the United States accounted for 13.2 percent of the domestically produced electricity in 2014, and 11.2 percent of total energy generation. As of 2014, more than 143,000 people work in the solar industry and 43 states deploy net metering, where energy utilities buy back excess power generated by solar arrays.
Renewable energy reached a major milestone in the first quarter of 2011, when it contributed 11.7 percent of total U.S. energy production (2.245 quadrillion BTUs of energy), surpassing energy production from nuclear power (2.125 quadrillion BTUs). 2011 was the first year since 1997 that renewables exceeded nuclear in US total energy production.
Hydroelectric power is currently the largest producer of renewable power in the U.S. It produced around 6.2% of the nation's total electricity in 2010 which was 60.2% of the total renewable power in the U.S. The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China, Canada and Brazil.
U.S. wind power installed capacity now exceeds 65,000 MW and supplies 4% of the nation's electricity. Texas is firmly established as the leader in wind power development, followed by Iowa and California. The largest solar thermal power station is the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (392 MW), south west of Las Vegas, and the SEGS group of plants in the Mojave Desert with a total generating capacity of 354 MW. Large photovoltaic power plants in the USA include Solar Star (579 MW), near Rosamond, California, the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, a 550 MW solar power plant in Riverside County, California, and the Topaz Solar Farm, a 550 MW photovoltaic power plant, in San Luis Obispo County, California. The Geysers in Northern California is the largest complex of geothermal energy production in the world.
In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama restated his commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency, and mentioned the long-standing Interior Department goal to permit 10,000 MW of renewable energy projects on public land in 2012.