The growth of solar energy generation is skyrocketing.
Key Details
- A new report has found that generated solar energy has increased to 1 terawatt of new power generation in the United States.
- For perspective, the entire world hit 1 terawatt of solar capacity recently, reports Bloomberg.
- The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released its annual 2022 edition of the Utility-Scale Solar report earlier this month.
- “This report explores trends in deployment, technology, capital, and operating costs, capacity factors, the levelized cost of solar energy, power purchase agreement prices, and wholesale market value among the fleet of utility-scale solar plants in the United States,” it says.
Why it’s news
The report’s findings are a strong indication that solar energy is currently expanding and is going to continue expanding in the near future.
“Berkeley Lab’s annual review of solar is a useful stocktake of how far the industry has come in the past decade. Read it carefully, and it is also a glimpse of the future,” says Bloomberg.
“At the end of 2021, the U.S. had 1,144 gigawatts of utility-scale electricity generation capacity. That includes everything from 130-year-old hydro dams to brand-new wind farms and solar projects with batteries attached. It took over a century to install all of it, and today, companies want to build almost that much capacity, all over again,” Bloomberg reports.
Backing up a bit
As we previously reported, residential solar panel installations are increasing. A Bloomberg analysis suggests that Florida, Texas, California, and the Midwest are leading areas where households are embracing solar energy.
Major investors are seeing opportunities, jumping into the solar market and investing in renewables.
Of currently planned projects, U.S. renewables are going to produce 1,450 gigawatts and 46% of that will come from solar energy. Not all of these projects will likely be completed though.