Wind & solar combined now produce more electricity than coal in the US, according to new data from the EIA and the FERC.

Wind and solar are now beating coal in the US

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Wind and solar combined now provide more generating capacity and produce more electricity than coal in the US, according to new data from the EIA and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which was reviewed by the nonprofit SUN DAY Campaign.

In the first two months of 2023, electrical generation by solar (including small-scale solar PV such as rooftop) grew by 6.7%, compared to the same two-month period in 2022 – faster than any other energy source, according to the latest issue of the US Energy Information Administration’s “Electric Power Monthly” report, which contains data through February 28. This was driven in large part by growth in “estimated” small-scale solar PV whose output increased by 23.6% and accounted for 32.5% of total solar production.

The mix of utility-scale and small-scale solar PV plus utility-scale solar thermal provided 3.9% of the US’s electrical output.

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Source: electrek

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California produced 26% of the national utility-scale solar electricity followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%.

California produces 26% of US solar power

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Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday.

Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022 after first doing so last year.

Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14% of the electricity produced domestically in 2022. Hydropower contributed 6%, and biomass and geothermal sources generated less than 1%.

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Source: Patch

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Researchers in Australia say they have found a way to make nano-silicon from recycled solar panels in a way that is highly profitable.

Researchers in Australia find a new reason to recycle solar panels — money!

Recently, we reported on the efforts of SolarCycle, a California startup that is struggling to recycle solar panels and do it profitably. Figuring this out is going to be hugely important as the number of solar panels that are no longer productive increases dramatically over the next several decades.

In 2016, the International Renewable Energy Agency forecast that by the early 2030s, the global quantity of decommissioned PV panels will equal some 4% of the number of installed panels. By the 2050s, the volume of solar panel waste will rise to at least 5 million metric tons a year. China, the world’s biggest producer of solar energy, is expected to have retired a cumulative total of at least 13.5 million metric tons of panels by 2050 — the largest quantity among major solar-producing nations and nearly twice the volume retired in the US by that time.

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Source: Clean Technica

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There are now more than 140 gigawatts of solar capacity installed in the US, enough to power 25 million homes.

Solar can now power one in five US homes

Solar accounted for 50% of all new electricity-generating capacity added in the US in 2022, according to a new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association. Federal policies like the Solar Investment Tax Credit lowered costs for solar panel installations, and increased demand across the private and public sectors. The result is that there are now more than 140 gigawatts of solar capacity installed in the US, enough to power 25 million homes.

California, Texas, and Florida were the top three states for new solar capacity for the third year in a row. California took back the top spot after Texas led the nation in 2021.

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Source: QUARTZ

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Residential rooftop solar supplied a record 14% of Australia’s electricity this summer – contributing more than brown coal and more than large-scale wind farms and solar projects.

Australia hits new rooftop solar record

The total output of rooftop solar in Australia over the summer was 8,046 GWh, up 19.5% on the preceding year, according to the Clean Energy Council.

The Clean Energy Council says that an increase of 15% to 20% in Australian electricity bills in 2022 underpinned strong demand for rooftop solar. Rising power prices also made rooftop solar’s payback times even more attractive.

“We’re seeing a fundamental shift; consumers are becoming energy generators,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton, noting that these figures only measure what enters the grid.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Solar and wind installations in the US could account for between 40% and 62% of total electricity generation by 2030.

IRA will see solar and wind account for over 60% of US generation by 2030

Solar and wind installations in the US could account for between 40% and 62% of total electricity generation by 2030, according to a report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The forecast growth is due to the stimulating effects of the ‘game-changing’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which came into force last summer and introduced US$369 billion in incentives and tax credits for renewable energy investment, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) which focuses on jobs and infrastructure investment.

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Source: PV Tech

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In 2023, wind, solar and battery storage account for 82% of new utility-scale generating capacity in the US.

Wind, solar, and batteries increasingly account for more new US power capacity additions

Wind, solar, and battery storage are growing as a share of new electric-generating capacity each year. In 2023, these three technologies account for 82% of the new, utility-scale generating capacity that developers plan to bring online in the United States, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.

Utility-scale solar capacity didn’t start ramping up in the United States until 2010. As the cost of solar panels dropped substantially and state and federal policies introduced generous tax incentives, solar capacity boomed. As of January 2023, 73.5 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar capacity was operating in the United States, about 6% of the U.S. total.

Just over half of the new U.S. generating capacity expected in 2023 is solar power. If all of the planned capacity comes online this year as expected, it will be the most U.S. solar capacity added in a single year and the first year that more than half of U.S. capacity additions are solar.

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Source: eia

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TX has 7.7GW of capacity additions planned for 2023, a solar development queue larger than CA’s 4.2GW pipeline.

Chart: Who’s the leader in utility-scale solar — California or Texas?

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Sometime in May of this year, those cowboys in Texas are expected to have officially added more utility-scale solar to their electric grid than the hippies in California have added to theirs, ending the Golden State’s perennial lead in this contest.

At the start of 2023, California was ahead of Texas by about 1,000 megawatts. Texas had 14,806 megawatts of utility-scale solar capacity as of December 2022, according to state grid operator ERCOT, while California had 15,967 megawatts as of January 5, 2023, according to state grid operator CAISO.

But Texas is simply building solar faster than any other state. It essentially doubled its capacity from 2019 to 2020 and again from 2020 to 2021, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The pace of Texas’ capacity additions in the last few years is making California look uncommitted to this whole renewables thing.

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Source: Canary Media

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Almost one-third of homes have panels in Australia, the highest in the world, says SunWiz, and will soon outpace capacity from coal.

Solar to soon offer grid more capacity than coal in Australia

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Australia’s rooftops now boast 20 gigawatts of solar panels and will soon have the capacity to produce more electricity than the country’s entire coal industry, according to the industry consultancy SunWiz.

Almost one in three Australian households have solar photovoltaics – or solar panels – the highest penetration in the world. Queensland had the highest share of solar panels installed on dwellings deemed suitable for the technology with an 82% penetration, ahead of South Australia’s 78%, New South Wales’ 51% and Victoria’s 43%.

The take-up of solar PV has quickened. It took about 11 years for Australia to reach its first 10GW of capacity, while the second 10GW took just four years, according to SunWiz.

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Source: The Guardian

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The researchers said that at least 6GW of community solar is expected to come online in existing markets between 2023-27.

US community solar set to double in five years as the IRA creates optimism

US community solar deployment is expected to more than double over the next five years despite 2022 seeing a 16% decline year-on-year, as the sector is set to see benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) taking hold.

According to a report from Wood Mackenzie and the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA), 2022 saw 1.01GW of community solar installed across the US, a fall from 1.19GW in 2021.

Community solar is a description of relatively small-scale solar projects that serve local communities.

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Source: PV Tech

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