Another year, another U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) assessment report that makes the agency’s own forecasters look foolish.
In the latest Electric Power Monthly report, which covers all twelve months of 2015, the EIA revealed that renewable energy sources accounted for nearly 13.5-percent of the nation’s utility-scale electrical output. This is up by more than 2-percent over 2014. But get this: less than three months earlier, in the “Short-Term Energy Outlook,” the agency predicted “total renewables used in the electric power sector to decrease by 1.8% in 2015.”
The EIA’s record for long-term forecasts is no better. In fact, it’s consistently worse.