Renewable vitality – photo voltaic, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass – accounted for greater than 90% of complete US electrical producing capability added in 2024, in line 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 through which photo voltaic was the most important supply of recent capability.
Renewables made up the lion’s share of recent producing capability in December and in 2024. In its newest month-to-month “Vitality Infrastructure Replace” report (with information by means of 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 gasoline offered the steadiness: 717 MW.
Throughout the full 2024 calendar yr, 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 gasoline, 13 MW of coal, 11 MW of oil, and 28 MW of “different.”
Photo voltaic was 80.1% of recent 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 instances that added by pure gasoline and nuclear energy mixed.
Photo voltaic has now been the most important supply of recent 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 gasoline, the brand new photo voltaic capability added in 2024 is prone to generate seven instances as a lot electrical energy as the brand new nuclear capability and about 5 instances as a lot as is perhaps anticipated from the brand new pure gasoline capability.
Photo voltaic + wind at the moment are 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 gasoline 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.
Nonetheless, 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 convey 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 at the moment are 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 have 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 have been 22.1%.
A decade in the past (December 2014), FERC reported that photo voltaic and wind have been 1.0% and 5.5% of complete capability, whereas the mix of all renewables accounted for 16.6% of capability.
Photo voltaic will quickly develop into the second-largest supply of US producing capability. FERC studies that internet “excessive likelihood” additions of photo voltaic between January 2025 and December 2027 complete 91,558 MW – an quantity nearly 4 instances the forecast internet “excessive likelihood” additions for wind (23,601 MW), the second-fastest rising useful resource. FERC additionally foresees development for hydropower (1,345 MW), geothermal (90 MW), and biomass (61 MW).
Taken collectively, the web 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 gasoline 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 might 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 development charges proceed, the put in capability of utility-scale photo voltaic is prone to surpass coal and wind throughout the subsequent two years, inserting photo voltaic in second place for put in producing capability, behind pure gasoline.
In the meantime, the combo of all renewables is now including about two share factors annually to its share of producing capability. Thus, by January 1, 2028, renewables would account for 37.3% of the overall accessible put in utility-scale producing capability – quickly approaching that of pure gasoline (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 gasoline 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 may surpass 320 GW. In flip, the combo of all renewables would then exceed 40% of complete put in capability whereas the share of pure gasoline share would drop to about 37%.
Furthermore, FERC studies that there may very well be as a lot as 222,443 MW of internet new photo voltaic additions within the present three-year pipeline along with 68,815 MW of recent wind, 8,659 MW of recent hydropower, 199 MW of recent geothermal, and 127 MW of recent biomass. Against this, the web new pure gasoline capability probably 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 development in US producing capability,” famous the SUN DAY Marketing campaign’s government director Ken Bossong. “Consequently, efforts by the Trump Administration to reverse this pattern 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 development of unpolluted vitality, which has saved massive vitality markets like Texas out of hassle 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, inexpensive, or dependable.
Learn extra: Due to wind and photo voltaic, Texas has saved the facility on and the prices down
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