In a nutshell: Photo voltaic and battery storage are having an absolute area day this yr within the US. In line with contemporary numbers from the Power Info Administration, the 2 sources accounted for a staggering 80% of all new electrical energy capability added within the first half of 2024.
Photo voltaic alone made up 60% of the 20.2 gigawatts of contemporary capability that went on-line from January via June. A big chunk of this may be attributed to 2 crops – a 600+ megawatt set up in Texas and one other in Nevada. These two states had been additionally main the photo voltaic cost, which does not come as a shock given their sunny inclinations.
On the identical time, battery installations additionally noticed a significant surge, clocking in at 4.2 GW for over 20% of whole additions. California took the crown right here with over a 3rd of the nation’s deployments, however Texas, Arizona, and Nevada additionally contributed heftily. The large 380 MW Gemini set up in Nevada and Arizona’s 300 MW Eleven Mile solar-plus-storage mission had been the biggest tasks on this class that got here on-line in 2024.
Wind pitched in its two cents as properly, including a good 2.5 GW of recent generators. However in comparison with photo voltaic and battery, wind’s build-out is quaint. Canyon Wind (309 MW) and Goodnight (266 MW) had been the biggest wind tasks to return on-line this yr, and each are situated in Texas.
Nuclear energy additionally added to the capability combine, although only a small piece. The 1.1 GW Unit 4 reactor at Georgia’s Vogtle plant got here on-line in April, making Vogtle the biggest nuclear facility within the US with 4 reactors in whole – the one web site within the nation working that many underneath one roof.
The second half of the yr may make the primary six months look tame, if EIA projections maintain true. They see over 42.6 GW of contemporary capability being added within the second half of the yr: 25 GW of that’s photo voltaic, 10.8 GW is battery storage, and 4.6 GW is wind.
Placing it merely, a shocking 96% of 2024’s new electrical energy capability is on monitor to be emission-free this yr, due to contributions from photo voltaic, wind, battery, and nuclear energy. These numbers turn into all of the extra vital when China is introduced into the image. The nation has already achieved the huge 1,200 gigawatt renewable goal it set for 2030, six years forward of schedule.
In the meantime, the retirement of present energy crops within the US slowed in 2024, with solely 5.1 GW taken offline within the first half versus 9.2 GW throughout the identical interval in 2023. Of the retired capability, 53% was pure gas-fired like Massachusetts’ large 1.4 GW Mystic plant, adopted by 41% from coal crops together with Florida’s 626 MW Seminole Unit 1 and Pennsylvania’s 626 MW Homer Metropolis Unit 1.
