Photo voltaic era for the primary 11 months of 2024 elevated by over 26%, whereas new photo voltaic producing capability added in November was the second-highest month-to-month whole ever reported, in line with new information launched by the Federal Vitality Regulatory Fee (FERC) and the US Vitality Data Administration (EIA).
New photo voltaic capability simply surpassed all different vitality sources through the first 11 months of 2024, adopted by wind, in line with the SUN DAY Marketing campaign, which reviewed the info.
Photo voltaic was 81.4% of recent capability through the first 11 months of 2024 and 98.6% in November alone. In line with FERC’s newest “Vitality Infrastructure Replace” report (with information by November 30, 2024), 25,817 megawatts (MW) of recent utility-scale photo voltaic era was positioned into service within the first 11 months of 2024 – 81.4% of the overall.
In November alone, photo voltaic added 4,132 MW representing 98.6% of all new capability added, making it the second-largest month-to-month enlargement, behind solely December 2023 when 4,979 MW have been added. Furthermore, November was the fifteenth month in a row that photo voltaic was the biggest supply of recent utility-scale producing capability.
Utility-scale photo voltaic producing capability has now reached 125.53 gigawatts (GW) or 9.61% of the overall put in capability by all vitality sources. (FERC’s information don’t embody the capability of small-scale photo voltaic methods that account for roughly 30% of all US photo voltaic capability.)
New wind capability year-to-date (YTD) accounted for a lot of the steadiness by November – 2,804 MW (8.8%). One other 248 MW have been offered by hydropower, geothermal, and biomass. Thus, the combo of all renewables accounted for 91.0% of all new capability additions.
New photo voltaic capability ought to present considerably extra electrical energy than the pure gasoline or nuclear energy crops that got here on-line in 2024. In November alone, 72 new “models” of utility-scale (ie, >1 MW) photo voltaic have been positioned into service whereas 613 models got here on-line YTD. Their mixed capability was virtually double that reported for a similar interval in 2023 (13,829 MW).
Furthermore, producing capability of the brand new photo voltaic amenities was 15 occasions better than the capability additions of pure gasoline (1,711 MW) and practically 24 occasions greater than these of nuclear energy (1,100 MW).
The brand new photo voltaic capability ought to produce extra electrical energy than the nuclear and gas-fired energy crops that got here on-line in 2024, however that the latter two have considerably increased capability elements than both photo voltaic or wind: nuclear – 93.0%, pure gasoline – 59.7%, wind – 33.2%, photo voltaic – 23.2%.
Adjusting for the variations in capability elements, the photo voltaic added in 2024 YTD ought to generate virtually six occasions extra electrical energy than the brand new capability additions of both nuclear energy or pure gasoline. Electrical energy to be produced by newly added wind ought to practically match that of both new nuclear or gasoline capability.
Photo voltaic stays the fastest-growing supply of US electrical era. In line with EIA’s newest month-to-month “Electrical Energy Month-to-month” report (with information by November 30, 2024), the mixture of utility-scale and “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) photo voltaic elevated by 26.2% within the first 11 months of 2024 in comparison with the identical interval in 2023. This displays a mixture of 31.0% development by utility-scale photo voltaic thermal and PV plus 15.4% development by small-scale amenities (ie, <1 MW).
No different vitality supply got here near matching that price of development. The second-fastest rising supply {of electrical} era was wind energy, which grew by 7.6%.
By comparability, pure gasoline and nuclear energy expanded by simply 3.8% and 0.6%, respectively, whereas coal-generated electrical energy shrunk by 4.7%.
Utility-scale photo voltaic offered 5.1% of US electrical era by the tip of November, whereas small-scale photo voltaic offered one other 2.0%. Mixed, that positioned photo voltaic era second to that of wind (10.3%) and forward of hydropower (5.5%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%).
By the primary 11 months of 2024, the combo of all renewables accounted for twenty-four.3% of whole US electrical era – up from 22.9% a yr earlier. Furthermore, the mixture of simply photo voltaic and wind outproduced coal by 18% and got here near the output of the US’s nuclear energy crops.
“Photo voltaic and different renewables are going through an unsure future beneath a seemingly hostile Trump administration,” famous the SUN DAY Marketing campaign’s govt director Ken Bossong. “However the robust and unceasing development by photo voltaic and wind supplies the most effective argument for his or her continued assist.”
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