US added 12 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) in first half of 2024

All utility-scale technologies combined added 20.2 GW in the first half of 2024, an increase of 3.6 GW from the same period a year ago. The EIA expects 42.6 GW of capacity to be added in the second half of 2024, of which 25 GW would come from utility-scale solar PV.

Solar PV could end 2024 with 37 GW of new installed capacity, a record for a single year and double the numbers from 2023, when it added 18.8 GW. The EIA estimates are just one gigawatt lower than predictions made by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie earlier this year. However, the latter’s estimates take into account all solar industry markets, which includes residential, community, and commercial and industrial solar, and not just utility-scale.

The two leading states for solar PV, Texas and California, accounted for 38% of solar additions during the first half of 2024. However, the largest project to come online during that period came from Nevada. With 690 MW of installed PV capacity, the Gemini solar-plus-storage project, developed and built by investment fund Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and its subsidiary, independent power producer (IPP) Primergy Solar, was the largest project to come online in the US this year.
BESS: Second-largest additions in H1 2024

The Gemini solar-plus-storage project was not only the largest solar PV project to come online in H1 2024, but also the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) to come online, with an output of 380 MW. BESS accounted for the second-largest amount of capacity additions through the end of June 2024, at 4.2 GW. Battery additions were concentrated in four U.S. states, California (37% of all additions), Texas (24%), Arizona (19%), and Nevada (13%).

Utility-scale solar PV accounted for 59% of all US capacity additions in the first six months of 2024. Chart: EIA.

The EIA expects BESS to add 10.8 GW of capacity in the second half of 2024 and could end the year with a record 15 GW of single-year installation. Texas and California currently account for 81% of BESS capacity additions expected in the second half of 2024.

Like the Gemini project, the second-largest BESS project coming online in the first half of 2024 is a solar-plus-storage project. US utility Salt River Project (SRP) and Danish energy company Ørsted launched the Eleven Mile Solar Center project in Arizona earlier this year, with an installed solar capacity of 300 MW and a BESS capacity of 300 MW/1.2 GWh. Prior to its completion, the companies had closed a power purchase agreement with tech and social media giant Meta.

Texas was home to the second-largest PV project to come online during the first six months of 2024, with the 640 MW Lumina solar plant. The project is owned by renewable energy developer Intersect Power, which has a 2.2 GW operating solar PV portfolio.