Largest owners of renewables boost total capacity in 2021

Each of the 10 largest owners of renewable resources increased operating capacity in the past year, ranging between 5% and 40% with eight seeing double-digit growth.

Xcel Energy Inc. showed the largest increase, 40.3% in capacity. The Minneapolis-based company owns 4.4 GW of renewable generation capacity, compared to 3.1 GW in the previous year. Wind generation, at 4.1 GW, made up the bulk of Xcel's renewables portfolio. Departing CEO Benjamin Fowke has said the clean energy transition was one of the top accomplishments during his tenure with the company, which recently announced net-zero goals for gas operations.

NextEra Energy Inc. continues to be the industry leader at 21.1 GW of owned renewable capacity, up from 17.2 GW in 2020.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was the second-largest owner of renewable capacity, at 13.6 GW, rising 11.1% from the previous year.

The largest owners of coal plants did not see much change. The aggregate owned capacity by the 10 largest owners was 89.9 GW, compared to 89.7 GW in 2020.

Duke Energy Corp. was the largest owner of coal-fired capacity, with 15.4 GW as of early December, compared to 15 GW last year. Duke is slated to retire two coal plant units totaling 1,294 MW by the end of 2021.

The second-largest owner of coal-fired capacity, American Electric Power Co. Inc., has 12.5 GW. The company is going to add 7 GW of solar and wind capacity in the coming years, coinciding with coal and gas plant retirements.

The aggregated owned operating capacity of largest gas-fired plant owners was 178.7 GW, a little over 2% up from the last year's levels.

Vistra Corp., NextEra and Duke Energy were the largest owners, with holdings of 24.7 GW, 24.3 GW and 23.9 GW, respectively. Vistra's gas-fired operating capacity ownership was unchanged. NextEra's increased 6.4%, and Duke's decreased 6.4%.