U.S. developers installed 5.8 gigawatts of electric generation capacity in the third quarter of 2022. The technologies supplying this new capacity could be credited in thirds: one third small solar (setting yet another quarterly record), one third large solar, and the final third split between fossil gas and wind generation resources.
In the chart below, we illustrate the past two years of new electric power capacity in the U.S., disaggregated by energy source on a quarterly basis.
Key takeaways:
- A total of 5.8 gigawatts of new generation capacity makes the third quarter of 2022 the weakest quarter for U.S. power supply growth in two years.
- Combined, small and large solar contributed 65 percent of new power generation capacity installed this quarter.
- Small-scale solar set a new quarterly installation record of 1.8 gigawatts. With California’s Net Metering 3.0 set to take effect next year (shrinking rooftop solar’s financial return), customers in the nation’s largest distributed solar market may rush to install solar in quarter four.
- In the past five years, there have only been four quarters in which developers installed less than a gigawatt of wind generation capacity. This was the worst quarter for wind since the second quarter of 2018.
For more on the advancement of distributed, clean energy resources, see these recent ILSR resources:
- ILSR Urges Environmental Protection Agency to Prioritize Grants in Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities
- National Community Solar Programs Tracker
- How Cities Can Make the Most of IRA Dollars — Episode 168 of Local Energy Rules
- A Successful Transition to Clean Building Energy Requires Collective Action
Interested in earlier trends and analysis of new power plant capacity? Check out our archive, illustrating how electricity generation has changed in previous quarters and years.
This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter or get the Energy Democracy weekly update.
Featured Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
