• A geographic focus was not provided to us, so we assumed a United States focus. If a more broad approach is desired, for example, a global focus, this would have to be clearly communicated to us in any reply.
• According to Deloitte, the US renewable energy was experiencing an increase in innovation, customer demand, cost competitiveness, and collaboration among other things and as a result, it was supposed to enter a new phase of growth in 2020.
• In April 2019, "renewable energy outpaced coal by providing 23% of US power generation compared to coal’s 20% share." Additionally, within the first half of 2019, both solar and wind displaced hydroelectric power’s dominance as they provided around 50% of the total US renewable electricity generation.
• Factors such as declining costs made the renewable energy industry attract consumers from different market segments driving demand up in the process. Renewable energy consumption by "residential and commercial customers increased 6% and 5% respectively, while industrial consumption declined slightly by 3% through June 2019 compared with the previous year."
• Unfortunately, in just a few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the industry and caused its growth to slow down because of issues like labor shortages and supply chain disruptions. However, Deloitte further stated that despite the negative impacts brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the longterm outlook for the renewable energy industry might still be positive.

Summary Of Our Early Findings Relevant To The Goals

• Our initial hour of research was spent gathering some data that addressed the question asked ensuring there was publicly available data that could provide the required data and providing some early findings in line with the goals of the project.
• As mentioned at the top of this document, we were not provided a geographic focus for this research so we assumed a United States view. If a more broad approach is desired, for example, a global focus, this would have to be clearly communicated to us in any reply.
• Please select one or more of the options provided in the proposed scoping section below.