Wind, solar, batteries make up 82% of 2023 utility-scale US pipeline

WASHINGTON -

Wind, solar, and batteries make up 82% of 2023’s expected new utility-scale power capacity in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.”

As of January 2023, the US was operating 73.5 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar capacity – about 6% of the country’s total.

But solar makes up just over half of new US generating capacity expected to come online in 2023. And if it all goes as expected, it will be the most solar capacity added in a single year in the US. It will also be the first year that more than half of US capacity additions are solar.

As of January 2023, 141.3 GW of wind capacity was operating in the US – about 12% of the US total. Another 7.1 GW are planned for 2023. Tax incentives, lower wind turbine construction costs, and new renewable energy targets are spurring the growth. 

And developers also plan to add 8.6 GW of battery storage power capacity to the grid this year, and that’s going to double total US battery power capacity.

However, differences in the amount of electricity that different types of power plants can produce mean that wind and solar made up about 17% of the US’s utility-scale capacity in 2021, but produced 12% of electricity. Solutions such as energy storage, smart grids, and infrastructure development will help bridge that gap.