#news: #photovoltaic #solar-energy “supplied 12.8% of [#USA] electricity in May even as #Trump boosts coal over clean #energy”, while coal was only 12.2% (and probably insignificant outside of electricity). Nice (minimally related stock) photo of #sheep grazing under #solar panels in Saltillo, Texas. “#Seia and Wood Mackenzie said solar and battery storage were practically the only energy resources being built in the first quarter, making up 91% of all new generating capacity [presumably in the US].” Sourced from #Ember but without a proper citation. #energy
on 02026-06-11#SEIA #solar map of #USA #solar-energy state by state, including manufacturing facilities, etc. #energy
on 02026-04-22#SEIA touts #photovoltaic installations increasing in #USA in 02023: “For the first time in history, #solar accounts for over 50% of new electricity capacity added to the grid.” But it was still only 32.4 gigawatts! And of course its capacity factor is lower than the other 47%. Abigail Ross Hopper touts “helping America’s solar module manufacturing base grow 89% in 2023,” which would be great if were in the ballpark of China’s pricing. And also that manufacturing capacity only grew “from 8.5 GW to 16.1 GW”, presumably per year. #energy
on 02024-07-28more #SEIA #USA #photovoltaic #energy data. Mentions that 6% of all US electrical generation is now #solar (though it’s unclear if this is nameplate capacity or generated energy). CSP remains marginal.
on 02024-06-08More from #SEIA’s #USA #photovoltaic #energy report (this is the executive summary): Florida installed 2.7 gigawatts in Q1 02024, Texas installed 2.6. New installations in the “commercial #solar segment” (“distributed solar projects with commercial, industrial, agricultural, school, government, or nonprofit offtakers, including remotely net-metered projects”) declined 34% from Q4 02023 to 434 megawatts. “Community solar” (“part of formal programs where multiple residential and non-residential customers can subscribe to the power produced by a local solar project and receive credits on their utility bills”) also declined, 32%, to 279 megawatts. Interestingly, SEIA here cites import tariffs as a major problem: “In this report, we’ve accounted for the updates to the Section 201 tariffs, notably the removal of the bifacial module exemption. And while the Section 301 tariffs were doubled (from 25% to 50%) for Chinese solar cells and modules, the tariff increase will not have a significant direct impact on the US solar industry, given the low volume (less than 0.1%) of Chinese imports. This report does not yet incorporate the impacts of potential new antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on imports of crystalline silicon cells and modules from four Southeast Asia countries.” I somehow thought SEIA were among the people backing the tariffs; I guess I got that wrong! Apparently part of the spike here is that the AD/CVD had a temporary two-year waiver which just expired, and the cells imported under the waiver had to be utilized within 180 days. Most alarmingly: “While [the expectation of installing 40 gigawatts a year over the next five years] is certainly proof of the solar industry’s strong standing in the energy transition, it also represents a slowdown of industry growth. The growth patterns vary amongst segments, but average annual growth between now and 2029 is 3%.” They also have a set of cost breakdowns for “turnkey installed price”, coming in at 98¢ per watt for “utility-scale fixed-tilt”, slightly higher than last year and almost half due to about 40¢ for the PV module itself. Residential is at 325¢, with about 20¢ for the PV module.
on 02024-06-08#SEIA talks more about #USA #photovoltaic #energy: 11.8 gigawatts (“GWdc”) installed in Q1 02024, 9.8 of which was utility-scale #solar. Residential solar installations shrank 25% from a year ago to only 1.3 gigawatts, due to California.
on 02024-06-08#solar #energy update from the #USA in this #SEIA press release from two days ago about the “U.S. Solar Market Insight Q2 2024 report”: manufacturing capacity increases to 27 gigawatts in Q1 02024 (per year), 11.8 gigawatts pear year more than Q4 02023; 10 new gigawatts of utility-scale #photovoltaic deployed in Q1 (largely in Florida and Texas, but also including 686 megawatts in New Mexico and 546 megawatts in Ohio); and total US solar capacity (installed nameplate generation capacity, I think) is expected to double over the next five years, reaching 438 gigawatts by 02029. According to the slide at the top, solar represents 55% of new US electricity-generation capacity added in 02023 (“over 40 GW”) and 75% of new capacity in Q1 02024; the remainder is 9% of storage and 16% of wind. In 02023 storage was 14%, wind was 12%, natural gas was 17% (fairly steady since 02020), and “other” was 2%. Coal has been at zero since 02015.
on 02024-06-08