Over eight gigawatts of new power generation capacity went online in the first quarter of 2024 and nearly all of this capacity was renewable. 85 percent of new capacity was from solar generation, with 5.5 gigawatts of large-scale solar and 1.7 gigawatts of distributed solar. Wind energy buildout contributed just over a gigawatt, while fossil gas development dropped to a new quarterly low of 18 megawatts.
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:
- 85 percent of all generation capacity installed in the first quarter of 2024 was solar; 65 percent from utility-scale solar farms and 20 percent from small solar installations (residential, commercial, and community solar).
- Distributed solar buildout slowed somewhat in the first quarter of 2024 following a record-high fourth quarter of 2023.
- Only 18 megawatts of new gas-fired power generation capacity came online this quarter — the lowest quarter for gas over seven years of ILSR’s tracking.
- Developers installed more than a gigawatt of utility-scale energy storage in the first quarter of 2024.
For more on the advancement of clean, distributed energy, see these recent ILSR resources:
- Community Solar Tracker
- Community Leaders on the Benefits of Locally Owned Clean Energy
- What the Monopoly Utility Model Really Costs Us
- Energy Bill Advances Rooftop and Distributed Solar in Minnesota
- The State(s) of Distributed Solar — 2023 Update
- Standing Rock’s Wind Project Puts People First — Episode 208 of Local Energy Rules
- Community Power Wins and Losses in 2023
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.
For timely updates from the Energy Democracy Initiative, follow John Farrell on Twitter, subscribe to the Energy Democracy weekly update, and check out the Local Energy Rules podcast.
Featured Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)