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According to the U.S. Energy Department’s latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, U.S. project developers and power plant owners increased their utility-scale power generation capacity by 20.2 gigawatts (GW) in the first half of 2024.
This new capacity is 3.6 GW, or 21 percent more than the capacity added in the first six months of 2023.
Solar energy accounted for the largest share of new generation capacity added in the United States in the first half of 2024, accounting for 12 GW or 59 percent of all additions.
Texas and Florida accounted for 38 percent of U.S. solar energy additions, while the 690 megawatt (MW) Gemini solar plant in Nevada and the 653 MW Lumina solar project in Texas were the largest solar projects to come online in the first half of 2024.
Battery storage was the second largest capacity increase this year, at 21 percent or 4.2 GW.
The majority of battery additions came from four states, including California with 37 percent of the U.S. total, Texas with 24 percent, Arizona with 19 percent and Nevada with 13 percent. The 380 MW battery storage capacity at Gemini and the 300 MW Eleven Mile Solar Center in Arizona were the two largest battery projects to come online in the first half of 2024.
Wind energy accounted for 12 percent, or 2.5 GW, of U.S. capacity additions. The 309 MW Canyon Wind project and the 266 MW Goodnight facility, both in Texas, were the largest wind power projects in the first half of the year.
Finally, nuclear power also increased this year, as the 1,114 MW Unit 4 of the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia began commercial operation in April. Vogtle is now the largest nuclear power plant in the United States and the only one with four nuclear reactors.
In addition, operators retired 5.1 GW of generation capacity in the first half of the year, which is less than the 9.2 GW that will be retired in the same period in 2023. This year, 53 percent of the retired capacity used natural gas as fuel, followed by coal at 41 percent.
The largest coal-fired power plant closures in the United States include Unit 1 of the Seminole Electric Cooperative with 626 MW in Florida, Unit 1 of the Homer City Generating Station with 626 MW in Pennsylvania and Unit 1 of the Mystic Generating Station with 1,413 MW in Massachusetts.
In the second half of the year, developers and owners expect to add another 42.6 GW of capacity. Almost 60 percent of this will come from solar energy (25 GW), followed by battery storage (10.8 GW) and wind energy (4.6 GW).
If utilities add all the solar capacity they currently plan, total solar capacity additions in 2024 will be 37 GW — a record and nearly double last year’s 18.8 GW. Utilities could also add a record amount of battery storage capacity this year (15 GW) if all planned additions come online.
