Red states are leading on renewable energy new analysis shows

Massachusetts may consider itself a progressive leader in many respects, including on climate action, but a new report is challenging that perception on at least one front: renewable energy.

Though wind and solar power generation soared in the United States last year, that growth was led not by Massachusetts but — perhaps surprisingly — by red states, according to an analysis from independent research organization Climate Central.

Massachusetts ranked 29th in total power generated from wind and solar combined, compared to Republican-led states Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas, which all ranked in the top five.

“People will say certain states care about renewables and other states don’t,” said Jennifer Brady, a senior data analyst at Climate Central. “But when you look at this data, you see this can pretty much be done anywhere. And we’re seeing it everywhere, all across the country.”

To be sure, it’s not easy for a small, densely populated state like Massachusetts to compete with large ones such as Texas that have much more available land away from population centers. And the study looked only at the amount of renewable energy each state produced, not the percentage of energy each state derives from clean sources.

But a separate February analysis of federal data from Yale Climate Connections, which considered not only wind and solar, but also hydropower, found that 16 states now generate at least half their electricity from renewable sources, and Massachusetts is not one of them. South Dakota, another red state, has the largest share of renewable energy at 83 percent, largely as a result of impressive adoption of wind energy.

“This definitely should be a wake-up call for Massachusetts,” said Mireille Bejjani, co-executive director of the New England climate activist group Slingshot.

More clean power projects are on the way in red states. A January Politico analysis found that since the Democrats’ major federal climate bill became law last year, roughly two-thirds of new renewable energy projects announced have been in Republican-held congressional districts, despite their party’s opposition to the bill.

The new study by Climate Central found that last year, the United States produced enough electricity from wind and solar to power 64 million American households, a 16 percent increase from 2021. Of that amount, 73 percent came from wind while 23 percent came from solar.

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