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EIA: Solar to account for more than half of new US electric-generating capacity in 2023

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Developers plan to add 54.5 GW of new utility scale electric-generating capacity to the US power grid in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More than half of this capacity will be solar power (54%), followed by battery storage (17%).

Solar

US utility scale solar capacity has been rising rapidly since 2010. Despite its upward trend over the past decade, additions of utility scale solar capacity declined by 23% in 2022 compared with 2021. This drop in solar capacity additions was the result of supply chain disruptions and other pandemic-related challenges. The EIA expects that some of those delayed 2022 projects will begin operating in 2023, when developers plan to install 29.1 GW of solar power in the US. If all of this capacity comes online as planned, 2023 will have the most new utility scale solar capacity added in a single year, more than doubling the current record (13.4 GW in 2021).

In 2023, the most new solar capacity, by far, will be in Texas (7.7 GW) and California (4.2 GW), together accounting for 41% of planned new solar capacity.

Battery storage

US battery storage capacity has grown rapidly over the past couple of years. In 2023, US battery capacity will likely more than double. Developers have reported plans to add 9.4 GW of battery storage to the existing 8.8 GW of battery storage capacity.

Battery storage systems are increasingly installed with wind and solar power projects. Wind and solar are intermittent sources of generation; they only produce electricity when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. Batteries can store excess electricity from wind and solar generators for later use. In 2023, the EIA expects that 71% of the new battery storage capacity will be in California and Texas, states with significant solar and wind capacity.

Natural gas

Developers plan to build 7.5 GW of new natural-gas fired capacity in 2023, 83% of which is from combined-cycle plants. The two largest natural gas plants expected to come online in 2023 are the 1836 MW Guernsey Power Station in Ohio and the 1214 MW CPV Three Rivers Energy Center in Illinois.

Wind

In 2023, developers plan to add 6 GW of utility scale wind capacity. Annual US wind capacity additions have begun to slow, following record additions of more than 14 GW in both 2020 and 2021.

The most wind capacity will be added in Texas in 2023, at 2 GW. The only offshore wind capacity expected to come online this year is a 130 MW offshore wind-farm in New York called South Fork Wind.

Nuclear

Two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia are scheduled to come online in 2023, several years later than originally planned. The reactors, with a combined 2.2 GW of capacity, are the first new nuclear units built in the US in more than 30 years.

For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global's Winter 2022 issue

The Winter 2022 issue of Energy Global hosts an array of technical articles focusing on wind, solar, energy storage, geothermal, and more. This issue also features a regional report on the Australian renewables sector.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/solar/07022023/eia-solar-to-account-for-more-than-half-of-new-us-electric-generating-capacity-in-2023/

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