Renewable Energy Technical Potential
From Open Energy Information
Renewable Energy Technical Potential:
Renewable energy technical potential represents the achievable energy generation of a particular technology given system performance, topographic limitations, environmental, and land-use constraints.The primary benefit of assessing technical potential is that it establishes an upper-boundary estimate of development potential.[1]
Multiple Types of Potential
There are multiple types of potential, each with their own assumptions. In addition to technical potential, resource, economic, and market potentials are also considered when assessing the overall development potential of a given technology. (See 'Defining RE Potential' to the right).
Technical Potential for the United States
Numbers shown represent the potential nameplate capacity for each state in MegaWatts (MW).
Click a state to view its energy profile.
Source: NREL GIS (Download the Original Dataset)