Solar Adds More New Capacity To the US Grid In 2024 Than Any Energy Source In 20 Years
(Wednesday March 12, 2025 @06:00AM (BeauHD)
from the historic-deployment dept.)
- Reference: 0176677595
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/03/11/2133237/solar-adds-more-new-capacity-to-the-us-grid-in-2024-than-any-energy-source-in-20-years
- Source link:
[1]AmiMoJo shares a report from Electrek:
> The U.S. installed 50 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity in 2024, the [2]largest single year of new capacity added to the grid by any energy technology in over two decades. That's enough to power 8.5 million households. According to the [3]U.S. Solar Market Insight 2024 Year in Review report (PDF) released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, solar and storage account for 84% of all new electric generating capacity added to the grid last year.
>
> In addition to historic deployment, surging U.S. solar manufacturing emerged as a landmark economic story in 2024. Domestic solar module production tripled last year, and at full capacity, U.S. factories can now produce enough to meet nearly all demand for solar panels in the U.S. Solar cell manufacturing also resumed in 2024, strengthening the U.S. energy supply chain. [...] Total US solar capacity is expected to reach 739 GW by 2035, but the report forecasts include scenarios showing how policy changes could impact the solar market. [...] The low case forecast shows a 130 GW decline in solar deployment over the next decade compared to the base case, representing nearly $250 billion of lost investment.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~AmiMoJo
[2] https://electrek.co/2025/03/10/solar-new-capacity-us-grid-2024/
[3] https://seia.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/USSMI-2024-YIR-ES-Embargoed-with-Watermark.pdf
> The U.S. installed 50 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity in 2024, the [2]largest single year of new capacity added to the grid by any energy technology in over two decades. That's enough to power 8.5 million households. According to the [3]U.S. Solar Market Insight 2024 Year in Review report (PDF) released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, solar and storage account for 84% of all new electric generating capacity added to the grid last year.
>
> In addition to historic deployment, surging U.S. solar manufacturing emerged as a landmark economic story in 2024. Domestic solar module production tripled last year, and at full capacity, U.S. factories can now produce enough to meet nearly all demand for solar panels in the U.S. Solar cell manufacturing also resumed in 2024, strengthening the U.S. energy supply chain. [...] Total US solar capacity is expected to reach 739 GW by 2035, but the report forecasts include scenarios showing how policy changes could impact the solar market. [...] The low case forecast shows a 130 GW decline in solar deployment over the next decade compared to the base case, representing nearly $250 billion of lost investment.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~AmiMoJo
[2] https://electrek.co/2025/03/10/solar-new-capacity-us-grid-2024/
[3] https://seia.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/USSMI-2024-YIR-ES-Embargoed-with-Watermark.pdf
A rather misleading headline (Score:2)
The numbers here are somewhat misleading because solar has such a low capacity factor. 50GW capacity probably equates to something like 10GW of average power output (ie about 10GWYr of output across a year - somewhere around five hours of peak output per day) though calculating the exact figure would require detailed knowledge of where it was all installed.