Photo voltaic technology 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 accordance with new information launched by the Federal Power Regulatory Fee (FERC) and the US Power Data Administration (EIA).
New photo voltaic capability simply surpassed all different vitality sources in the course of the first 11 months of 2024, adopted by wind, in accordance with the SUN DAY Marketing campaign, which reviewed the info.
Photo voltaic was 81.4% of latest capability in the course of the first 11 months of 2024 and 98.6% in November alone. Based on FERC’s newest “Power Infrastructure Replace” report (with information via November 30, 2024), 25,817 megawatts (MW) of latest utility-scale photo voltaic technology was positioned into service within the first 11 months of 2024 – 81.4% of the full.
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 had been added. Furthermore, November was the fifteenth month in a row that photo voltaic was the biggest supply of latest utility-scale producing capability.
Utility-scale photo voltaic producing capability has now reached 125.53 gigawatts (GW) or 9.61% of the full put in capability by all vitality sources. (FERC’s information don’t embody the capability of small-scale photo voltaic techniques that account for roughly 30% of all US photo voltaic capability.)
New wind capability year-to-date (YTD) accounted for many of the steadiness via November – 2,804 MW (8.8%). One other 248 MW had been offered by hydropower, geothermal, and biomass. Thus, the combination 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 fuel or nuclear energy vegetation that got here on-line in 2024. In November alone, 72 new “models” of utility-scale (ie, >1 MW) photo voltaic had been positioned into service whereas 613 models got here on-line YTD. Their mixed capability was nearly 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 larger than the capability additions of pure fuel (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 vegetation that got here on-line in 2024, however that the latter two have considerably larger capability components than both photo voltaic or wind: nuclear – 93.0%, pure fuel – 59.7%, wind – 33.2%, photo voltaic – 23.2%.
Adjusting for the variations in capability components, the photo voltaic added in 2024 YTD ought to generate nearly six occasions extra electrical energy than the brand new capability additions of both nuclear energy or pure fuel. Electrical energy to be produced by newly added wind ought to practically match that of both new nuclear or fuel capability.
Photo voltaic stays the fastest-growing supply of US electrical technology. Based on EIA’s newest month-to-month “Electrical Energy Month-to-month” report (with information via 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 charge of development. The second-fastest rising supply {of electrical} technology was wind energy, which grew by 7.6%.
By comparability, pure fuel 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 technology via the tip of November, whereas small-scale photo voltaic offered one other 2.0%. Mixed, that positioned photo voltaic technology second to that of wind (10.3%) and forward of hydropower (5.5%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%).
By means of the primary 11 months of 2024, the combination of all renewables accounted for twenty-four.3% of whole US electrical technology – 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 vegetation.
“Photo voltaic and different renewables are going through an unsure future below 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 offers the perfect argument for his or her continued assist.”
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