HIGHLIGHTS
- PRODUCTION BY THE MIX OF ALL RENEWABLESINCREASED BY 8.6% IN FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2024 ANDPROVIDED 24.0% OF U.S. ELECTRICAL GENERATION
- UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR EXPANDED 30.1% CONFIRMING IT AS THE FASTEST GROWING SOURCE OF ELECTRICY YEAR-TO-DATE
- THE OUTPUT BY WIND + SOLAR WAS GREATER THAN COAL AND NEARLY MATCHED NUCLEAR POWER WHILE SOLAR AND WIND EACH SURPASSED HYDROPOWER
A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data recently released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms that during the first three-quarters of 2024, solar remained the nation's fastest growing source of electricity as the mix of all renewables increased their output by nearly 9%.
Key Year-to-Date (YTD) Trends for Solar:
In its latest monthly "Electric Power Monthly" report (with data through September 30, 2024), EIA says the combination of utility-scale and "estimated" small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar increased by 25.9% in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
Utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 30.1% while small-scale solar PV increased by 16.2%. Together, solar was over 7.0% (7.13%) of total U.S. electrical generation for the period.
In September alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar expanded by 29.0% compared to September 2023 while small-scale solar grew by 14.2%; combined solar grew by 24.6% and accounted for more than 7.5% of total U.S. electrical output.
Small-scale solar (i.e., systems <1-MW) accounted for almost 30% (28.2%) of all solar generation and provided 2.0% of U.S. electricity supply in the first nine months of this year.[1]
In fact, small-scale solar PV is now generating nearly twice as much electricity as utility-scale biomass as well as over five times more electricity than either utility-scale geothermal or the mix of petroleum liquids and coke.
Key YTD Trends for the Mix of Renewables:
The electrical output of the nation's wind farms in the first nine months of 2024 was 6.6% more than that of a year ago. Wind remains the largest source of electrical generation among renewable energy sources, accounting for 9.9% of the nation's total.
The combination of wind and solar provided 17.0% of the nation's electrical generation during the first three-quarters of 2024.
Renewables provided 24.0% of total U.S. electricity production in the first nine months of 2024 compared to 22.8% of electrical output a year earlier.
Between January and September, electrical generation by the mix of all renewables (i.e., wind and solar plus hydropower, biomass and geothermal) grew by 8.6% compared to the same period a year earlier - more than double the growth rate of natural gas (4.1%) and nearly seven times that of nuclear power (1.3%).
In September alone, electrical generation by renewables grew by 7.9% compared to September 2023 and was 21.3% of the U.S. total. A year earlier, their share had been only 19.8%.
Other Developments:
During the first nine months of 2024, wind out-produced hydropower by 76.4% while solar generation surpassed hydropower by 27.2%. In September alone, wind and solar produced 73.5% and 65.9% respectively more electricity than hydropower. [2]
Further, during the first nine months of this year, the combination of wind and solar produced 14.5% more electricity than did coal and came close to matching nuclear power's share of total generation (17.0% vs. 17.6%).
The mix of renewables further strengthened their position as the second largest source of electrical generation, behind only natural gas.
"Renewable energy sources now account for a quarter of the nation's electricity," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "Consequently, rash efforts by the incoming Trump Administration to undermine renewables would have serious negative impacts on the nation's electricity supply and the economy."
Source:
EIA released its latest "Electric Power Monthly" report on November 22, 2024. The full report can be found at: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly
For the data cited in this release, see Table ES1.B ("Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, Year-to-Date 2024 and 2023") as well as Table ES1.A ("Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, 2024 and 2023")
Notes:
[1] In its "Electric Power Monthly" report, EIA refers to small-scale or distributed solar as "Estimated Small Scale Solar Photovoltaic." All calculations presented in this release include electrical generation by small-scale solar which EIA estimates to have totaled 67,294 gigawatthours (GWh) during the first nine months of 2024 and 7,543 GWh in September alone,
[2] In September 2024, wind produced 28,910 GWh (7.9%) of total U.S. electrical generation while utility-scale and small-scale solar combined produced 27,642 GWh (7.5%) and hydropower produced 16,660 GWh (4.5%).
The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1992 to support a rapid transition to 100% reliance on sustainable energy technologies as a cost-effective alternative to nuclear power and fossil fuels and as a solution to climate change. Follow on Twitter (or "X"): @SunDayCampaign
