For the very first time, solar and wind electricity generation in the United States overshadowed that from nuclear during the first half of 2024. According to data from Ember, an independent energy think tank, utility-scale solar and wind assets combined to produce a record amount of electricity of 401.4 terawatt-hours compared to 390.5 TWh from nuclear reactors.
This nudges deeply into the stakes of the United States’ energy transition fight by putting renewable energy assets firmly on the pedestal as the first source of clean power in the country. This milestone is just the end of a blistering run-up in solar and wind capacity. Utilities are racing to build both sources of renewable energy faster than they are building any other form of electricity generation.
The generation by utility-scale solar and wind farms has only topped nuclear output on three months from 2015 through the end of 2023: April 2022, May 2022, and April 2023. Since January 2024, both solar and wind production have consecutively beaten nuclear production and for four months now, with renewables producing 3% more than nuclear over the first half of the year.
Such rapid growth in renewable energy output is put in perspective since the same period last year saw nuclear-powered electricity production more than 9% greater than that from solar and wind sources. In the first six months of 2024, generation from solar counted 149.6 TWh and from wind farms 251.7 TWh. These volumes are 30% and 10% respective increases from the same period in 2023, and both set first-half-of-the-year records.
While nuclear electricity generation in the first half of 2024 was 3.4% higher than the same period in 2023, it has slightly been down from the second half of 2023. This probably suggests that there may not be much scope for large gains in US nuclear generation over the near-to-medium term.
Across the US, the installed capacity drives electricity generation potential, and renewables capacity has grown more than all other power sources combined in just the past five years. Between 2018 and 2023, capacity from just utility-scale solar generation leaped 168 percent to 139 gigawatts, while that from wind rose 56 percent to 148 GW. On the other hand, the national nuclear generation capacity fell almost by 4%, while total fossil fuel generation capacity decreased by 3.7%—including a 23% drop in coal-fired generation capacity.
Developers have plans to add another 34 GW of solar capacity in 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration, while wind generation capacity is likely to remain largely flat. If completed, the projects could finally see solar capacity overtake wind capacity and greatly increase the amount of solar electricity generated.
For the near to medium term, US nuclear generation is likely to stay flat; the combined solar and wind generation potential is due to continue to make further gains, firmly establishing renewables as the primary source of clean electricity in the US and cementing their role in the nation’s energy transition.
Source: Ember