Renewable vitality – photo voltaic, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass – accounted for greater than 90% of complete US electrical producing capability added in 2024, in keeping with information launched yesterday by the Federal Vitality Regulatory Fee (FERC) and reviewed by the SUN DAY marketing campaign.
Photo voltaic alone accounted for over 81% of the brand new capability. Furthermore, December was the sixteenth month in a row by which photo voltaic was the most important supply of latest capability.
Renewables made up the lion’s share of latest producing capability in December and in 2024. In its newest month-to-month “Vitality Infrastructure Replace” report (with information by December 31, 2024), FERC says 105 “models” of photo voltaic totaling 4,369 megawatts (MW) got here on-line in December, together with two models of wind (324 MW) and two models of biomass (45 MW). Mixed, they accounted for 86.9% of all new producing capability added throughout the month. Pure fuel offered the steadiness: 717 MW.
In the course of the full 2024 calendar 12 months, photo voltaic and wind added 30,816 MW and three,128 MW, respectively. Mixed with 213 MW of hydropower, 51 MW of biomass, and 29 MW of geothermal steam, renewables accounted for 90.5% of added capability. The steadiness consisted of the 1,100 Vogtle-4 nuclear reactor in Georgia, plus 2,428 MW of pure fuel, 13 MW of coal, 11 MW of oil, and 28 MW of “different.”
Photo voltaic was 80.1% of latest capability in December and 81.5% throughout 2024. Photo voltaic accounted for 81.5% of all new producing capability positioned into service in 2024 – 50% greater than the photo voltaic capability added in 2023.
In December alone, photo voltaic comprised 80.1% of all new capability added.
New photo voltaic capability added in 2024 is nearly 9 occasions that added by pure fuel and nuclear energy mixed.
Photo voltaic has now been the most important supply of latest producing capability added every month for 16 months straight, from September 2023 – December 2024.
Adjusting for the variations in capability components amongst photo voltaic, nuclear, and pure fuel, the brand new photo voltaic capability added in 2024 is prone to generate seven occasions as a lot electrical energy as the brand new nuclear capability and about 5 occasions as a lot as could be anticipated from the brand new pure fuel capability.
Photo voltaic + wind are actually nearly 22% of US utility-scale producing capability. New wind accounted for a lot of the steadiness (8.3%) of capability additions, which is greater than both the brand new pure fuel capability (6.4%) or nuclear energy capability (2.9%).
Taken collectively, the put in capacities of simply photo voltaic (10.2%) and wind (11.7%) now represent greater than one-fifth (21.9%) of the US’s complete accessible put in utility-scale producing capability.
Nevertheless, roughly 30% of US photo voltaic capability is within the type of small-scale (e.g., rooftop) programs that aren’t mirrored in FERC’s information. Together with that further photo voltaic capability would deliver the share offered by photo voltaic + wind nearer to 1 / 4 of the US complete.
With the inclusion of hydropower (7.7%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%), renewables now declare a 31.0% share of complete US utility-scale producing capability. If small-scale photo voltaic capability is included, renewables are actually about one-third of complete US producing capability.
Photo voltaic’s share of US producing capability is now 10x larger than a decade in the past. As famous, by the tip of 2024, photo voltaic and wind accounted for 10.2% and 11.7%, respectively, of all put in utility-scale producing capability within the US, whereas the combo of all renewables accounted for 31.0%.
In December 2023, FERC reported that photo voltaic and wind had been 7.9% and 11.7% of put in capability whereas the combo of all renewables offered 29.0%.
5 years in the past (December 2019), FERC launched information displaying photo voltaic and wind to be 3.5% and eight.5% of complete capability whereas all renewables mixed had been 22.1%.
A decade in the past (December 2014), FERC reported that photo voltaic and wind had been 1.0% and 5.5% of complete capability, whereas the mixture of all renewables accounted for 16.6% of capability.
Photo voltaic will quickly turn out to be the second-largest supply of US producing capability. FERC reviews that web “excessive likelihood” additions of photo voltaic between January 2025 and December 2027 complete 91,558 MW – an quantity nearly 4 occasions the forecast web “excessive likelihood” additions for wind (23,601 MW), the second-fastest rising useful resource. FERC additionally foresees progress for hydropower (1,345 MW), geothermal (90 MW), and biomass (61 MW).
Taken collectively, the online new “excessive likelihood” capability additions by all renewable vitality sources would complete 116,655 MW, with photo voltaic comprising over 78% and wind offering one other 20%.
Then again, there is no such thing as a new nuclear capability in FERC’s three-year forecast, whereas coal, oil, and pure fuel are projected to contract by 23,925 MW, 2,293 MW, and 833 MW, respectively.
If FERC’s present “excessive likelihood” additions materialize, by January 1, 2028, photo voltaic will account for practically one-sixth (16.1%) of the US’s put in utility-scale producing capability. That will be larger than both coal or wind (each 12.6%) and considerably greater than both nuclear energy or hydropower (each 7.3%).
Actually, assuming present progress charges proceed, the put in capability of utility-scale photo voltaic is prone to surpass coal and wind throughout the subsequent two years, putting photo voltaic in second place for put in producing capability, behind pure fuel.
In the meantime, the combo of all renewables is now including about two share factors every year to its share of producing capability. Thus, by January 1, 2028, renewables would account for 37.3% of the entire accessible put in utility-scale producing capability – quickly approaching that of pure fuel (40.2%) – with photo voltaic and wind constituting greater than three-quarters of the put in renewable vitality capability.
All renewables mixed are on monitor to exceed pure fuel inside three years. As famous, FERC’s information don’t account for the capability of small-scale photo voltaic programs. If that’s factored in, inside three years, complete US photo voltaic capability might surpass 320 GW. In flip, the combo of all renewables would then exceed 40% of complete put in capability whereas the share of pure fuel share would drop to about 37%.
Furthermore, FERC reviews that there may very well be as a lot as 222,443 MW of web new photo voltaic additions within the present three-year pipeline along with 68,815 MW of latest wind, 8,659 MW of latest hydropower, 199 MW of latest geothermal, and 127 MW of latest biomass. In contrast, the online new pure fuel capability doubtlessly within the three-year pipeline totals simply 19,438 MW. Thus, the share of renewables share may very well be even larger by early 2028.
“For greater than a decade, renewable vitality sources – led by photo voltaic – have dominated progress in US producing capability,” famous the SUN DAY Marketing campaign’s government director Ken Bossong. “Consequently, efforts by the Trump Administration to reverse this development are each illogical and prone to fail.”
Electrek’s Take
FERC’s newest information additional illustrates how completely ridiculous Trump’s “nationwide vitality emergency” government order is. The regular progress of unpolluted vitality, which has saved giant vitality markets like Texas out of bother throughout climate occasions, disproves Trump’s claims that the US clear vitality provide is “precariously insufficient and intermittent.”
Additional, his refusal to even outline photo voltaic and wind as “vitality” in that government order isn’t going to cease their progress, and each he and his new secretary of vitality, Chris Wright, telling lies about renewables isn’t going to make them any much less clear, reasonably priced, or dependable.
Learn extra: Because of wind and photo voltaic, Texas has saved the ability on and the prices down
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