The USA adds a record of 49 GW solar capacity in 2024

“We are about to expand American energy,” said BCSE President Lisa Jacobson. “Renewable energies and natural gas are the growth sectors of the energy industry and, in combination with energy efficiency technologies, will be fundamental to combat demand growth.”

The fact that in 2024 was added about ten times more solar than wind, underlining how solar dominates the US renewable electricity area, as shown in the above diagram. Last year the ninth year in a row, in which the USA added more new solar capacity than wind, and the third year in a row, in which both new solar extensions per year increased compared to the previous year, while the new suit additives decreased compared to the previous year.

The report states that 2024 records records of new solar capacities, which has contributed to the fact that renewable electricity constitutes 24% of all US electricity generation and what it describes as a “zero carbon stream” as a renewable energies plus nuclear power of 42% of US stream generation.

The business case for solar

This strong investment appetite for renewable electricity in general and solar energy in particular is based on the fact that Clean Power projects are often the most intelligent investment compared to fossil fuel sources. Both fixed PV systems and the pursuit of PV systems were at the lowest costs for the electricity figures (LCOE) in 2024, whereby the cost of generating electricity from the latter of up to $ 45/MWh was generated.

This is a low LCOE of 40 US dollars/MWh and very positive to fossil fuel sources compared to other forms of the production of renewable streams. was paired between US $ 122. 288/MWh. While was found $ 87-168/MWh compared to $ 135-189/MWh. These trends are shown in the following graphic.

The strength of the investment for Solar is reflected in the illustration of BCSE and the “energy productivity” of BCSE and BNEF, the ratio of USBIP to the entire electricity consumption in the country, which should reflect on how efficiently the USA can expand its power generation capacity to satisfy the growing demand in the middle of wider economic changes.

The report realizes that the US economy rose by 2.8%in 2023, while primary energy consumption increased by only 0.5%, which resulted in a record -energy productivity of 2.3%, which “the highest Economic performance reflects that is achieved per energy unit that has been used up to date ”.

“Energy efficiency drives economic growth and the creation of jobs,” said Paul R. Glover, President of the Alliance, to save energy in response to the publication of the report. “In the past ten years, an increase in energy productivity by 29.1% is the basis for a stronger, more resilient network. And with over 2 million Americans who are employed in the United States in the areas of energy efficiency, the investment in efficiency is not just an intelligent policy – this is an engine for economic opportunities. “

Solar-Plus storage is growing in the USA as in Europe

The conclusion of the report gives the growing feeling about the financial viability of Solar-Plus storage in the investment area for renewable energies. At the beginning of February, spokesman at the Solar Finance & Investment Europe event from Solar Media Storage described as a key component to strengthen income in European solar. The best competitive ”on the continent.

The report stated that the United States commissioned 11.9 GW of new storage capacities last year, which has been an increase of 55% compared to the previous year, the fifth year as a result of the record connections. The majority of this capacity were added in California and Texas with these states together with others in the southwest 84% of the new capacity in 2024. The largest of these additions was the Gemini Solar-Plus storage project in Nevada, which reached commercial operation in July.

Trends in storage Investments also reflect the trends at Clean Energy Investment, with the report determining that the United States invested the fourth most in the storage in 2023, with China first. These figures are similar to the entire investment for clean energy, with China leading the world, with 4.4% of the total GDP in 2024 in front of the USA the energy transfer, which started 1.3% of the total GDP.

The supportive legislation played a key role

The report also suggests that supporting laws have contributed to promoting these trends, and none was more effective than inflation reduction act (IRA). The landmark of US President Biden of $ 500 billion has contributed to this.

Figures of the solar of the industrial association (Seia) also suggest that the favorable economic conditions created by the IRA – especially tax credits, the companies that invest the first 12 months of the lifespan of the invoice in deployments for renewable energy. According to BCSE and BNEF, the United States spent 338 billion US dollars for the energy transfer as a whole in 2024, compared to $ 303 billion in 2024.

Since the end of the IRA in mid-2022, the annual renewable electricity generation of the USA has passed the 1,000 TWH barrier, as shown in the following graphic. This is a significantly greater growth than in the core sector and comparable to the carbon sector, which is to be decomposed to decrease in production.

However, the same figures show that natural gas remains an essential part of the US energy mix. The BCSE and BNEF report also notes that in 2024 in the USA a record year for natural gas demand-what the year has grown by 1.3% compared to the previous year, by 99.7 billion cubic foot per day-what on this indicates trust in fossil fuels completely with more renewable power.

While the report states that “the elections in November in November marked a shift in federal politics priorities”, the industry has expressed confidence that IRA will not be completely lifted.

The grids and supply chains remain obstacles

The report also emphasizes that the persistent dependence of the USA on natural gas is not the only obstacle to the goals for clean energy. In fact, the US carbon dioxide emissions were 0.5% higher in 2024 than in 2023.

In terms of clean energy sector in particular, the report notes that a lack of available network capacity is an important challenge for the United States, a long -term problem for the entire energy sector. In the past month, four fifths of energy projects from “inefficient” US-Netzwettschlang retreated because the demand and investments in the generation of renewable streams were significantly adopted.

The trend is reflected in the latest figures from BCSE and BNEF, which show that in 2024 317 GW new capacity for connections to the US network was used, almost a third of the current operating current generation capacity in the USA. The report also shows that more than two thirds of this capacity apply to solar and storage projects and emphasize the importance of relieving network maintenance queues when both technologies are to achieve their potential in the US energy system.

There are also international concerns, with the threat of dependence on overseas products, especially in solar cells that are made in China and Southeast Asia, and creates an unstable environment for the US manufacturers and installers. The report states that US solar cell imports in the first ten months of 2024 to 1.5 billion US imported the USA over 51 GW modules in the first ten months of 2024 more than in the same period of 2023.

This imbalance is particularly for the United States in view of the recent introduction of new trade tariffs by the government of Protectionist trade rhetorics by the US President Trump. This month, the President increased tariff tasks for Chinese solar products to 60% and introduced a tariff of 25% for steel and aluminum imports in the USA.