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United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential

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Renewable energy technical potential as defined in this report represents the achievable energy generation of a particular technology given system performance, topographic limitations, environmental, and land-use constraints. The data presented here provide renewable energy potential by state and by category, there is an option for download in CSV or Excel format. The primary benefit of assessing technical potential is that it establishes an upper-boundary estimate of development potential. It is important to understand that there are multiple types of potential: resource, technical, economic, and market - each seen in the "Key Assumptions" resource below.

For updated data on renewable energy resource potential and siting considerations please see the "Siting Lab" link below.

Download All Resources 2.93 MB — 4 files

1. Siting Lab

Renewable Energy Siting Lab webpage for data on the siting of renewable energy facilities in the United States.

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Key Assumptions.jpg

Key Assumptions for the US Renewable Energy Technical Potential study.

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U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials - A GIS-Based Analysis.pdf

The full technical report from July, 2012.

340

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United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential.csv

United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential by state data file in csv format.

645

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United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential.xlsx

United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential by states data file in xlsx format.

329

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Citation Formats

TY  - DATA
AB  - Renewable energy technical potential as defined in this report represents the achievable energy generation of a particular technology given system performance, topographic limitations, environmental, and land-use constraints. The data presented here provide renewable energy potential by state and by category, there is an option for download in CSV or Excel format. The primary benefit of assessing technical potential is that it establishes an upper-boundary estimate of development potential. It is important to understand that there are multiple types of potential: resource, technical, economic, and market - each seen in the "Key Assumptions" resource below.

For updated data on renewable energy resource potential and siting considerations please see the "Siting Lab" link below. 
AU  - Lopez, Anthony
A2  - Roberts, Billy
A3  - Heimiller, Donna
A4  - Blair, Nate
A5  - Porro, Gian
DB  - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP  - Open EI | National Laboratory of the Rockies
DO  - 
KW  - CSP
KW  - RE
KW  - RE potential
KW  - Renewable Energy
KW  - US Energy
KW  - US potential
KW  - United States
KW  - biopower
KW  - energy
KW  - geothermal
KW  - hydropower
KW  - hydrothermal
KW  - potential
KW  - potential energy
KW  - renewable
KW  - rooftop
KW  - tech potential
KW  - technical
KW  - utility-scale
KW  - water
KW  - wind
KW  - data
KW  - processed data
LA  - English
DA  - 2014/11/25
PY  - 2014
PB  - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
T1  - United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential
UR  - https://data.openei.org/submissions/439
ER  -

Export Citation to RIS

Lopez, Anthony, et al. United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 25 November, 2014, Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/439.

Lopez, A., Roberts, B., Heimiller, D., Blair, N., & Porro, G. (2014). United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential. [Data set]. Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://data.openei.org/submissions/439

Lopez, Anthony, Billy Roberts, Donna Heimiller, Nate Blair, and Gian Porro. United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, November, 25, 2014.  Distributed by Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/439

@misc{OEDI_Dataset_439,
title = {United States Renewable Energy Technical Potential},
author = {Lopez, Anthony and Roberts, Billy and Heimiller, Donna and Blair, Nate and Porro, Gian},
abstractNote = {Renewable energy technical potential as defined in this report represents the achievable energy generation of a particular technology given system performance, topographic limitations, environmental, and land-use constraints. The data presented here provide renewable energy potential by state and by category, there is an option for download in CSV or Excel format. The primary benefit of assessing technical potential is that it establishes an upper-boundary estimate of development potential. It is important to understand that there are multiple types of potential: resource, technical, economic, and market - each seen in the "Key Assumptions" resource below.



For updated data on renewable energy resource potential and siting considerations please see the "Siting Lab" link below. },
url = {https://data.openei.org/submissions/439},
year = {2014},
howpublished = {Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, https://data.openei.org/submissions/439},
note = {Accessed: 2026-03-17}
}

Details

Data from Nov 25, 2014

Last updated Oct 7, 2025

Submitted Nov 25, 2014