From Techspot – thanks to Bob P.
In a nutshell: Solar and battery storage are having an absolute field day this year in the US. According to fresh numbers from the Energy Information Administration, the two sources accounted for a staggering 80% of all new electricity capacity added in the first half of 2024.
Solar alone made up 60% of the 20.2 gigawatts of fresh capacity that went online from January through June. A large chunk of this can be attributed to two plants – a 600+ megawatt installation in Texas and another in Nevada. These two states were also leading the solar charge, which doesn’t come as a surprise given their sunny dispositions.
At the same time, battery installations also saw a major surge, clocking in at 4.2 GW for over 20% of total additions. California took the crown here with over a third of the nation’s deployments, but Texas, Arizona, and Nevada also contributed heftily. The massive 380 MW Gemini installation in Nevada and Arizona’s 300 MW Eleven Mile solar-plus-storage project were the largest projects in this category that came online in 2024. (continued)