A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data recently released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms that solar has continued its decade-long streak as the nation’s fastest-growing source of electricity.
In its latest monthly ‘Electric Power Monthly’ report (with data through April 30, 2024), EIA says that the combination of utility-scale solar and small-scale solar (e.g. on rooftops) will increase by 25.4% increased compared to the first third of 2023. Small-scale solar alone grew by 19.3%, while utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaics grew by 28.4% – significantly faster than any other energy source then.
As a result, solar power accounted for 6.0% of total U.S. electricity generation in the first third and grew rapidly. In April alone, the stock rose to a record high of 8.4%.
Small-scale solar accounted for nearly a third (30.8%) of all solar generation and provided nearly two percent (1.9%) of U.S. electricity supply in the first four months of this year. In April this was 2.5%.
Electricity generation from the mix of all renewable energy sources (i.e. solar, wind and hydropower plus biomass and geothermal energy) grew by 6.3% in the first third of 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier, providing 26.2 % of total generation.
In April alone, electricity generation from renewable energy sources grew by 13.5% compared to April 2023, reaching 31.0% of the U.S. total – the first time ever that renewable energy sources exceeded 30% of electricity generation in any month took care of the country. A year earlier this was 28.4%.
In April alone, the combination of wind and solar energy alone accounted for almost a quarter (23.45%) of the country’s electricity generation – another record.
During the first four months of 2024, solar power generation (6.0% of total) performed nearly on par with hydropower (6.1%) and surpassed it by nearly 40% in April, making solar the number one has become the second largest sustainable energy source – after only wind energy (whose own production in April was more than double that of hydropower). [2]
Similarly, wind electricity generation only approached the output of the country’s coal-fired power plants in the first third of 2024 and exceeded coal output by more than a quarter (28.1%) in the month of April. Wind and solar energy produced more than twice as much electricity as coal in April.
Meanwhile, the combination of wind and solar energy nearly matched the electrical output of the country’s nuclear reactors in the first third of 2024, boosting nuclear output by more than 30% in April alone. The mix of all renewable energy sources produced almost 40% more electricity than nuclear energy in the first four months of 2024, surpassing nuclear energy by 72.1% in April alone.
All told, renewables have strengthened their position as the second-largest source of electricity generation, behind only natural gas, whose lead over renewables is narrowing. Natural gas’s share averaged 40.1% in the first third of 2023, but fell to 38.5% in April.
“EIA’s latest data does not yet include the sunniest days and weeks of the year and therefore it can be assumed that more records will be broken by renewable energy sources in the coming months,” said Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “And it appears that renewables are once again outperforming previous EIA projections.”
News item from the SUN DAY campaign
