Name: Solar Power = 60% of New US Power Capacity in June
Brand: cleantechnica.com
SKU: cleantechnica-com-8
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Solar Power = 60% of New US Power Capacity in June

preview

Hi, what are you looking for?Solar power keeps growing in the United States. In the month of , 60.1% of new power capacity added in the country was from solar power plants. Another 37.5% was from wind power plants. And 2.4% was from hydropower. If you’ve done the quick math on that, that means that 100% of new power capacity came from renewable energy sources in June. (Toggle the dropdown button in the interactive chart below to also see charts for January–June 2020, January–June 2019, and total installed capacity in the United States.)In the first 6 months of the year together, 27.3% of new power capacity came from solar, 29.4% came from wind, 0.4% came from hydropower, and 42.7% came from natural gas. So, June was clearly far more renewable-friendly than the first half of the year, and solar in particular was shining brightly (simple pun intended). Even so, in the first half of 2020, renewable energy accounted for a little more than 57% of new US power capacity.Here’s a list of renewable energy projects that went online in June 2020:Naturally, electricity generation capacity is not electricity generation. I will do a separate report on electricity generation.If you’ve been reading CleanTechnica in recent weeks (or recent years), you know the most probable reason why solar power keeps rising in the power capacity charts. Solar panel costs have continued to drop year after year and even quarter after quarter. As I recently wrote, “.” The cost of solar panels has .For both large-scale projects (represented above) and rooftop solar, US solar panels are still well above the global average due to the China–US trade war and specific tariffs placed on certain low-cost solar panels produced abroad, but .Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments ReportIn general, large-scale solar power plants have gotten so cheap that it’s rare another energy option outcompetes solar when it comes to new wholesale power capacity, and it continues to to solar power capacity growth in the US and abroad. Portugal just received a in August, and there are new US solar power power plants with a cost per kilowatt-hour just a bit above that. In fact, utility-scale solar power has gotten so cheap that it is than get electricity from old/existing fossil fuel and nuclear power plants, and the realization is growing that is actually the cheapest plan for the future of our electricity grid.The utility industry may be a slow-moving industry with terawatts of inertia, but it’s not a stupid industry. Expect solar power capacity to keep growing strongly while coal power, nuclear power, and even natural gas power plants go out of style.Note that the capacity figures above — both added capacity and total capacity — are not the same as electricity generation. You can have 1000 gigawatts of capacity installed by not produce a single gigawatt-hour of electricity. Several factors affect how much electricity is actually generated from any power plant of any source. A coming report will cover electricity in the US.In addition to the utility-scale solar portion of the story (represented in the FERC data), the rooftop solar side of the story (not represented in the FERC data) is increasingly compelling. by cutting various “soft costs” and whittling the consumer cost down the the cost of hardware, installation, and a small profit for Tesla — I have more on that coming with a couple of exclusive quotes from Elon Musk on the topic, so stay tuned. (And note that if you would like to go solar with Tesla and need a referral code for a $100 discount, you are free to use mine: .) There are still permitting costs (including time costs) that could certainly be cut in many jurisdictions to bring the price down further, but that’s a matter for local policymakers unless the U.S. government takes a leadership role at some point and implements a nationwide solar permitting policy that helps streamline the process and cut costs further.Whether it is rooftop solar power competing with retail electricity prices or utility-scale solar power competing with other power plants on the wholesale electricity market, solar is winning. It is winning more and more of the market. I wonder what the share of new capacity and electricity generation will be in 2025, and in 2030.&nbsp;Appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality and cleantech news coverage? Consider becoming a&nbsp;&nbsp;— or a&nbsp;patron on .&nbsp;Don't want to miss a cleantech story? Sign up for on email. Or !&nbsp;Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? .Advertisement&nbsp;#1 most loved electric vehicle, solar energy, and battery news &amp; analysis site in the world.&nbsp;Electric vehicles are becoming more common around us as we drive to work, school, and errands. What models will we likely see our friends...First of all, this article was stimulated by one thing: I genuinely want to know why it is that Tesla FSD Beta has so...The heatwave that’s been hitting California and other states in the West has been a beast of a problem. It’s crippling grids, which even...NIO has been clear with its brand identity since it launched: we sell expensive, premium-class electric vehicles that are quite large, high tech, fancy,...

Hi, what are you looking for?Solar power keeps growing in the United States. In the month of , 60.1% of new power capacity added in the country was from solar power plants. Another 37.5% was from wind power plants. And 2.4% was from hydropower. If you’ve done the quick math on that, that means that 100% of new power capacity came from renewable energy sources in June. (Toggle the dropdown button in the interactive chart below to also see charts for January–June 2020, January–June 2019, and total installed capacity in the United States.)In the first 6 months of the year together, 27.3% of...

public

Zachary Shahan

We have covered the cleantech industry obsessively for 13 years — electric vehicles, solar energy, wind energy, & more.

Solar Power = 60% of New US Power Capacity in June

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS