According to the latest data According to figures from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), renewables have supplied almost all – 99.2% – of new generating capacity in the US since the beginning of 2024 through April. The SUN DAY campaign reviewed the data and found that in the first four months of 2024, solar and wind added 7,899 MW and 1,825 MW respectively, while biomass added 3 MW and hydro added 1 MW. The balance consisted of 67 MW of gas, 5 MW of oil and 3 MW of ‘other’.
Credit: iStock
Specifically for the month of April, 1,324 MW of solar energy was put into use, together with 737 MW of wind energy. The balance for April was supplied by gas with only 16 MW.
The new solar capacity added between January and April this year was more than double the solar capacity (3,777 MW) added in the same period last year. So far, solar energy has accounted for 80.6% of all new generations put into use.
Solar energy has now been the largest source of new generation capacity for eight months: from September 2023 through April 2024. For six of those eight months, wind was in second place.
The latest capacity expansions have brought solar’s share of total available installed utility-scale generation capacity to 8.56%, further expanding its lead over hydropower (7.84%). The wind speed is currently 11.77%. With the addition of biomass (1.13%) and geothermal energy (0.32%), renewables now claim a 29.62% share of total U.S. utility-scale generation capacity.
Installed utility-scale solar has now risen to fourth place – behind gas (43.58%), coal (15.79%) and wind for their share of generation capacity, having recently surpassed that of nuclear (8.06% ) have surpassed.
The combined capacity of solar and wind alone now constitutes more than one-fifth (20.33%) of the country’s total available installed utility-scale generation capacity.
However, a third or more of U.S. solar capacity consists of small-scale systems, which is not reflected in FERC data. Including that additional solar capacity, the share of solar and wind energy would be closer to a quarter of the national total.
“The combination of wind and solar energy now amounts to more than a fifth of U.S. generating capacity and could be closer to a quarter if small-scale solar is added,” said Ken Bossong, executive director of SUN DAY Campaign. “Including distributed solar, the mix of all renewable energy sources is now poised to surpass natural gas capacity within the next three years.”