America put in a record-breaking 50 GW of recent photo voltaic capability in 2024, the most important single yr of recent capability added to the grid by any power know-how in over 20 years. Builders put in greater than 16 GW in This autumn alone.
“A good variety of tasks that had been introduced as anticipated to come back on-line in Q1 2025 ended up coming on-line in 2024 — becoming for an power supply that’s the quickest to deploy,” mentioned Jacob Weinberg, senior communications supervisor with SEIA.
In keeping with the U.S. Solar Market Insight 2024 Year in Review report launched immediately by the Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation (SEIA) and Wooden Mackenzie, photo voltaic and storage account for 84% of all new electrical producing capability added to the grid final yr.
“Photo voltaic and storage might be constructed quicker and extra affordably than some other know-how, guaranteeing the USA has the ability wanted to compete within the world financial system and meet rising electrical energy demand,” mentioned SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “America’s photo voltaic and storage trade set historic deployment and manufacturing data in 2024, creating jobs and driving financial development. It’s important that lawmakers proceed to help an ‘all the above’ power technique that fosters the expansion of American power sources like photo voltaic and storage.”
Complete U.S. photo voltaic capability is anticipated to succeed in 739 GW by 2035, however the report forecasts embrace eventualities displaying how coverage adjustments may impression the photo voltaic market. Sudden adjustments to federal tax credit, provide chain availability and allowing coverage will create uncertainty for buyers, enhance prices for builders and producers and trigger a slowdown in photo voltaic deployment.
The low case forecast exhibits a 130 GW decline in photo voltaic deployment over the subsequent decade in comparison with the bottom case, representing practically $250 billion of misplaced funding. A slowdown at this scale may go away the U.S. with out the electrical energy wanted to fulfill rising demand, threatening development within the manufacturing and know-how sectors that depend on ample energy.
Most of the fastest-growing photo voltaic states similar to Texas, Indiana and Florida would see the most important declines in deployment underneath the low-case state of affairs. Texas alone may lose out on over $50 billion of photo voltaic funding over the subsequent decade.
“Final yr’s record-level of installations was aided by a number of photo voltaic insurance policies and credit inside the Inflation Discount Act that helped drive curiosity within the photo voltaic market,” mentioned Sylvia Levya Martinez, Principal Analyst, North America Utility-Scale Photo voltaic for Wooden Mackenzie. “We nonetheless have many challenges forward, together with unprecedented load development on the ability grid. If many of those insurance policies have been eradicated or considerably altered, it will be very detrimental to the trade’s continued development.”
Texas led all states for brand spanking new photo voltaic capability additions final yr, replicating a record-setting 2023 with 11.6 GW of recent installations. In whole, 21 states set new annual set up data, and 13 states added over 1 GW of recent photo voltaic capability in 2024.
The utility-scale section noticed historic positive factors in 2024, rising by 33% year-over-year with a document 41.4 GW of put in capability. The neighborhood and business photo voltaic markets additionally set annual data, rising by 35% and eight%, respectively. The residential photo voltaic market skilled its lowest yr of installations since 2021 resulting from state-level coverage adjustments and elevated rates of interest nationally. Forecasts present that the market is anticipated to rebound over the subsequent decade.
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