According to the US Solar Market Insight Q3 2024 Report Published today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, federal clean energy policies continue to drive production and deployment growth as the solar industry reaches 9.4 GW of new electricity generation capacity by the second quarter of 2024 installed.
In two years, the solar industry under the IRA added 75 GW of new capacity to the grid, representing more than 36% of all solar capacity built in U.S. history. Nearly 1.5 million American homes have installed solar energy since the IRA was passed.
“The solar and storage industry is putting federal clean energy policy into action by rapidly creating jobs and fueling economic growth in all 50 states, especially in battleground states like Arizona, Nevada and Georgia,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of SEIA. “We are now producing historic amounts of solar energy in America, and soon we will have enough domestic module production to meet almost all of America’s demand for years to come.”
Texas remains a dominant solar market, leading the nation with 5.5 GW of installed solar capacity through the first half of 2024. States that have been closely watching the November elections, including Texas, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Arizona, are among the top. 10 solar states in 2024.
“The solar industry had a great second quarter, led by growth in the utility segment,” said Michelle Davis, head of Global Solar at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report. “But the future growth of solar energy is hampered by broader challenges in the energy sector: interconnection backlogs, electrical equipment shortages and constraints on labor availability. The industry also faces uncertainty related to newly proposed tariffs and the presidential election. There is a lot going on in the solar energy sector at the moment.”
The residential solar market continued to shrink in the second quarter of 2024, driven by policy changes in California and high national interest rates. The sector added 1.1 GW of new capacity in the second quarter, the lowest quarter in almost three years. However, the residential solar market is expected to grow again in 2025 and set annual records between 2026 and 2029.
Annual solar installations will grow by an average of 4% in the coming years, as the sector faces the aforementioned challenges. By 2029, total U.S. solar capacity is expected to double to 440 GW.
News item from SEIA
