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Nearly half of new U.S. electric generating capacity will be solar in 2022
- marc__1 5y agoFor additional context: At the end of 2020, the United States had 1,117,475 MW — or about 1.12 billion kilowatts (kW) — of total utility-scale electricity generating capacity and about 27,724 MW — or nearly 0.03 billion kW — of small-scale solar photovoltaic electricity generating capacity. Solar went from 0.4 million kW in 2020 to 47.8 million kW in 2020 Pretty impressive S curve, still in the early-stages imo https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-...
- Panino 5y ago> In 2022, we expect 46.1 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to be added to the U.S. power grid This report only includes utility-scale generation, so rooftop solar is not included. Given that there's basically no micro-scale nuclear and coal, and very little wind, solar is under-counted in these types of energy assessments. (I personally know 1 person who gets all their electricity from their own wind turbine + batteries, and another who used to do the same but now has solar panels and batteries. So I know they're out there but there aren't many.) I'd love to know how small-scale generators figure into the equation. And I'd love for small-scale wind power to see improvements and gain rapid deployment like solar. Currently almost all small-scale wind is off-grid and used with batteries.