U.S. Solar Power Capacity Expected to Surpass Natural Gas by 2030, FERC Data Shows
FERC's New Energy Infrastructure report shows that solar has the largest growing share of the U.S. energy mix.
Between January and August, solar added just under 9 GW of new capacity, accounting for 40.5% of total additions and a 36% increase year-over-year.
Wind power added 2.7 GW of new capacity, accounting for about 12.5% of total new installations. Renewable energy, including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass, accounted for 54.3% of total new installations.
In order to replace fossil fuels, the development of decarbonized energy is promising. From the perspective of total available installed power generation capacity, natural gas still leads the way. More than 44 percent of available generating capacity comes from natural gas, followed by coal, wind, hydropower and solar.
FERC predicts that solar will see strong growth in the coming years. It projects that by August 2026, it is "highly likely" that new solar capacity will exceed 83 GW, by which time natural gas, which is projected to add 4 GW of new capacity, will clearly be dwarfed.
FERC said the "very likely" 83 GW of new solar may be relatively conservative, with more than 214 GW of solar capacity added over the three-year project process.
Currently, there is 564 GW of installed capacity available for natural gas and 92 GW for solar.
generation projects are all connected to the grid, their installed capacity will reach 306 GW. these figures suggest that with healthy project development, solar has the potential to replace natural gas as the number one source of electricity by 2030.
It will take a lot of capital to become the largest electricity provider. A report by the Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that last year (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023), total U.S. investment in clean energy, clean transportation, building electrification, and carbon management reached $213 billion.
The $213 billion investment represents a 37 percent increase from the $155 billion invested in 2021/2022. Clean energy investment has continued to grow strongly each year. total clean energy investment reached $81 billion in 2018/2019 and has climbed each year since.
Domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies has gained increasing attention in recent years, with a wealth of tax credits and incentives serving as an attracting force. manufacturing investment totaled $39 billion in 2022/2023, more than double the $17 billion in the previous reporting period.
Solar energy was the largest energy and industrial investment category in the second quarter of 2023, attracting $8.62 billion, followed by energy storage and wind energy, which attracted $4.08 billion and $2.03 billion, respectively.
By RYAN KENNEDY
Source : www.pv-magazine.com