EGN NEWS DESK
The newest federal forecast for energy plant additions exhibits photo voltaic sweeping with 58% of all new utility-scale producing capability this yr. In an upset, battery storage will present the second-most new capability, with 23%. Wind delivers a modest 13%, whereas the long-delayed ultimate nuclear reactor at Vogtle in Georgia will add 2% of recent capability, assuming it does in truth arrive this yr. That leaves fossil fuel with simply 4% of recent energy plant capability, a decidedly meager exhibiting for the gasoline that also produces essentially the most electrical energy yearly.
The EIA’s numbers punctuate the gorgeous rise of renewables and batteries over the past decade. As mass manufacturing soared, prices fell precipitously, and builders gained hands-on expertise in the right way to ship these initiatives cost-effectively. Then, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act created a host of tax incentives for firms to put in clear power over the approaching decade.
Now, in 2024, everybody from investor-owned utility firms to cooperatives, municipals and personal builders throughout 50 states has determined carbon-free power can be essentially the most aggressive choice to satisfy their energy wants. The trade’s mixture funding choices imply that 96% of all new giant energy plant capability will likely be carbon-free.
The U.S. set a file for large-scale photo voltaic building final yr, and 2024 is about to double that. Battery installations additionally set a file final yr, with 6.4 gigawatts added. This yr is about to double that, too, with 14.3 GW — and in addition almost double the full put in grid battery capability in the entire nation. Almost all of these batteries will go to the booming photo voltaic markets of Texas and California, the place they will take in low cost surplus photo voltaic and play a significant position in averting energy shortfalls throughout moments of utmost electrical energy demand.
By distinction, the 2.5 gigawatts of deliberate new fuel crops characterize the smallest addition for that gasoline in 25 years.
But fossil fuel nonetheless generates 40% of annual U.S. electrical energy, and coal produces about 20% (and falling). Each yr like 2024 pushes renewable capability far increased, squeezing out costlier fossil gasoline manufacturing. It’s onerous to think about a starker sign of the renewable period’s arrival than a near-total sweep of recent energy plant building — now the clear power trade simply must preserve it up.
