US installs record solar capacity as prices keep falling

[867-5309.]

This week, the US Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab released its annual analysis of solar energy in the US. It found that nearly half the generating capacity was installed in the US during 2021 and is poised to dominate future installs. That's in part because costs have dropped by more than 75 percent since 2010; it's now often cheaper to build and operate a solar plant than it is to simply buy fuel for an existing natural gas plant.

In terms of large, utility-scale solar installs, the US added over 12.5 gigawatts of new capacity last year, bringing the total installed capacity to over 50 gigawatts. Texas led the way, with about a third of the total capacity added (3.9 GW) going online in the Lone Star State. Combined with residential and other distributed solar installations, solar alone accounted for 45 percent of the new generating capacity added to the grid last year.

That growth showed up in figures on how much energy solar supplies. Five states now receive more than 15 percent of their electricity from solar power, including Massachusetts and Vermont, with California receiving 25 percent of its electricity from the Sun.

Solar's expansion has largely been driven by falling costs. The DOE estimates that the price of building a solar plant has been dropping by an average of about 10 percent a year, leading to a fall of over 75 percent since 2010. That has left prices averaging about $1.35 for each watt of capacity in 2021. Large-scale plants benefit the most, with projects over 50 megawatts costing about 20 percent less than those under 20 MW...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/us-installs-record-solar-capacity-as-prices-keep-falling/

[Wounded Bear]

1. Personally not a big fan of huge solar farms, but whatever it takes...

Good to hear about growth in point of use collection of solar power. We need to install more parking areas with solar panels overhead to provide shade for the vehicles and charging capacity as well. There are other options available as well.

[jimfields33]

2. Didn't help California much during the latest heat wave

you’d think 25% would be able to keep up with the capacity along with the grid. But I guess not.

[Wounded Bear]

3. An inconvenient truth...solar panel efficiency drops with extreme temperatures...nt

[jimfields33]

5. Oh wow. I don't think Florida should do it then. We have high temperatures

most of the year.

[Blues Heron]

7. Solar works just fine in Florida lol!

Maybe you are kidding?

[jimfields33]

8. It does. Many have solar panels on the roof.

I was just surprised that you say they don’t work in high temperatures.

[Blues Heron]

10. That was the other poster that said efficiency Drops

TheY kick out less current as the temps go up, but they still work

[Wounded Bear]

15. Yeah, I didn't mean to say they shut down. They lose efficiency.

That means they drop 10% or so of their output power, so we don't have enough to handle peak usage at some times.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. And so?

They're a little less efficient in extreme temperatures, 10-25% less efficient. It's still free energy less the cost of installation and maintenance.

Why is that an inconvenient truth? The solar industry has never hid this.

And California's grid held up remarkably well considering the extreme conditions.

And solar and wind were the only thing that prevented Texas from a total catastrophic failure of their entire grid during their deep freeze the other year.

Solar, wind, and other renewables are going to be a bigger and bigger part of the grid going forward.

[Wounded Bear]

16. My bad on the wording there. No need to get defensive. I strongly support solar...

Just saying that we don't have quite enough installation to handle peak usage in extreme temps yet.

[Johnny2X2X]

17. No worries

But remember, it was wind and solar that held up the grid in Texas, the fossil fuel plans are the ones that failed.

[Shermann]

6. Aptera owners may take issue with that plan next year!

https://aptera.us/

[Shermann]

4. 12.5 gigawatts is 10X the power needed by the DeLorean time machine nt

[Qutzupalotl]

12. Those were jigawatts.

[Shermann]

14. The movie took artistic liberties with the pronunciation! nt

[Sympthsical]

9. Our PG&E bill is like $25 a month

And in the midst of a two week long 100+ degree heat wave, that was rather pleasant.

[liberal N proud]

11. Happy to be part of that statistic with Solar Panels on my roof

When we purchased our latest home, we installed solar weeks after moving in.
We were the first in our community and we made it easier for others in the neighborhood to install them after we fought for initial approval

[AllyCat]

18. We tried to put one on our house.

Prices were $13-28k even with tax credits. Could not afford.

[Oldtimeralso]

19. Former president Carter built a solar farm to power his own house...

Than enlarged the footprint to provide power to the residents of Plains!!!