As we reported Monday, the American Clean Power Association (ACP) reported extraordinary growth and milestones across the U.S. clean power landscape.
Here are further details from the ACP report:
U.S. developers installed 11 GW of clean power in Q2
- Developers brought 11,015 MW of utility-scale solar, wind, and energy storage projects online in the second quarter of 2024, up 91% from the 5,772 MW installed in Q2 2023.
- As of June 30, 2024, the U.S. had 283,578 MW of clean power capacity in operation, enough to power nearly 70 million homes.
Storage installations speed past the 20 GW mark
- After adding 2,933 MW/10,431 MWh of new storage capacity in Q2, the U.S. now has 21,580 MW/60,387 MWh of grid-facing energy storage in operation.
- Nearly half of all storage in operation at the end of Q2 was installed in the last year, with 90% installed in the last 3.5 years.
Texas dethrones California as top solar state
- Texas installed enough new solar capacity in Q2 to displace California as the state with the most utility-scale solar capacity installed.
- Texas added 3,293 MW of new solar year-to-date and is now home to 21,932 MW of capacity – 20% of the overall U.S. solar fleet.
H1 2024 outpaced 5-year average by over 10 GW
- At the mid-year point, the U.S. had added over 19 GW of new clean power capacity – more than 10 GW higher than the five-year average for H1, setting the stage for another record year.
2024 Q2 installs
- Project developers commissioned 137 utility-scale solar, battery storage, and wind projects in the second quarter, adding 11,015 MW of clean power capacity to the grid.
- Clean power capacity installations increased 91% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023, continuing the strong pace set in the first quarter and further supporting the possibility that 2024 will surpass the record-breaking 2023.
- While solar provided around 61% of quarterly clean power installations with around 6.7 GW deployed, storage installations climbed to 2.9 GW in Q2, accounting for 27% of the market.
- Land-based wind installations grew 41% year-over-year to reach 1,370 MW in Q2. The number of new onshore wind projects installed tripled in Q2 compared with Q1.
Cumulative operating clean power capacity
- As of the end of Q2 2024, 283,578 MW of clean power capacity had been installed in the U.S., enough to power almost 70 million American homes.
- While onshore wind remains the dominant technology in the operational clean power mix, installed solar capacity reached 39% in Q2, up from 26% at the start of 2020, after outpacing onshore wind installations for ten consecutive quarters.
- Texas came in first for quarterly clean power installations in Q2, adding 2,596 MW of new utility-scale solar, wind, and storage capacity. The Lone Star State brought online more than 1.6 GW of new solar in the second quarter, propelling it to surpass California as the top solar state for the first time. Texas also installed 574 MW of storage and 366 MW of onshore wind.
- Next, California installed 1,947 MW of new clean power capacity in Q2, nearly 70% of which was energy storage. Long a solar powerhouse, California has pivoted toward storage in recent quarters: storage accounted for 60% of the state’s year-to-date clean power installations. The trend is set to continue, with storage providing 64% of California’s clean power capacity in the pipeline.
- Arizona, in third, installed 1,358 MW of clean power in the second quarter, with storage its top installed technology at 560 MW. Arizona’s operational clean power capacity has grown 27% year-over-year.
- Ohio and Indiana rounded out the top five, at fourth and fifth, respectively. Both states saw a surge of new solar capacity come online in Q2.
- Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia added new clean power capacity to the grid in Q2 2024, up from 27 states in the first quarter of the year.