U.S. solar capacity and generation soar in 2024, November sees second-highest new capacity ever

WASHINGTON DC – A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data in two new reports released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that new solar generating capacity added in November was the second highest monthly total ever reported while solar generation for the first eleven months of 2024 increased by over 26%.

In addition, new solar capacity easily surpassed all other energy sources during the first eleven months of 2024, followed by wind.

Solar was 81.4% of new capacity during the first eleven months of 2024 and 98.6% in November alone:

According to FERC’s latest “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through November 30, 2024), 25,817 megawatts (MW) of new utility-scale solar generation was placed into service in the first eleven months of 2024 – 81.4% of the total.

In November alone, solar added 4,132-MW representing 98.6% of all new capacity added, thereby making it second-largest monthly expansion, behind only December 2023 when 4,979-MW were added. Moreover, November was the fifteenth month in a row that solar was the largest source of new utility-scale generating capacity.

Utility-scale solar generating capacity has now reached 125.53 gigawatts (GW) or 9.61% of the total installed capacity by all energy sources. And it should be noted that FERC’s data do not include the capacity of small-scale solar systems which account for roughly 30% of all U.S. solar capacity.[1]

New wind capacity year-to-date (YTD) accounted for most of the balance through November – 2,804-MW (8.8%). Another 248-MW were provided by hydropower, geothermal, and biomass. Thus, the mix of all renewables accounted for 91.0% of all new capacity additions.

The new solar capacity should provide substantially more electricity than the natural gas or nuclear power plants that came on line in 2024:

In November alone, 72 new “units” of utility-scale (i.e., >1-MW) solar were placed into service while 613 units came on-line YTD. Their combined capacity was almost double that reported for the same period in 2023 (13,829-MW).

Moreover, generating capacity of the new solar facilities was fifteen times greater than the capacity additions of natural gas (1,711-MW) and nearly 24x more than those of nuclear power (1,100-MW).

The new solar capacity should produce more electricity than the nuclear and gas-fired power plants that came on-line in 2024 notwithstanding that the latter two have significantly higher capacity factors than either solar or wind: nuclear – 93.0%; natural gas – 59.7%, wind – 33.2%; solar PV – 23.2%.[2]

Adjusting for the differences in capacity factors, the solar added in 2024 YTD should generate almost six times more electricity than the new capacity additions of either nuclear power or natural gas. Electricity to be produced by newly-added wind should nearly match that of either new nuclear or gas capacity.

Solar remains the fastest-growing source of U.S. electrical generation:

According to EIA’s latest monthly “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through November 30, 2024), the combination of utility-scale and “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar increased by 26.2% in the first eleven months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. This reflects a combination of 31.0% growth by utility-scale solar thermal and PV plus 15.4% growth by small-scale facilities (i.e., <1-MW).

No other energy source came close to matching that rate of growth. The second-fastest growing source of electrical generation was wind power which grew by 7.6%.

By comparison, natural gas and nuclear power expanded by just 3.8% and 0.6% respectively while coal-generated electricity contracted by 4.7%.

Utility-scale solar provided 5.1% of U.S. electrical generation through the end of November while small-scale solar provided another 2.0%. Combined that placed solar generation second to that of wind (10.3%) and ahead of hydropower (5.5%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%).

Through the first eleven months of 2024, the mix of all renewables accounted for 24.3% of total U.S. electrical generation – up from 22.9% a year earlier. Moreover, the combination of just solar and wind out-produced coal by 18% and came close to the output of the nation’s nuclear power plants.

“Solar and other renewables are facing an uncertain future under a seemingly hostile Trump administration,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “But the strong and unceasing growth by solar and wind provides the best argument for their continued support.”

Sources:

FERC’s 8-page “Energy Infrastructure Update for November 2024” was released on January 23, 2025.

For the information cited in this update, see the tables entitled “New Generation In-Service (New Build and Expansion)” and “Total Available Installed Generating Capacity.”

EIA released its latest “Electric Power Monthly” report on January 24, 2025.

For the data cited in this release, see Table ES1.B (“Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, Year-to-Date 2024 and 2023”) as well as Table ES1.A (“Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, 2024 and 2023”)

Notes:

[1] In a September 12, 2023 news release, EIA stated: “More than one-third of U.S. solar power capacity is small-scale solar. … We expect small-scale solar capacity … will grow from 44-GW in June 2023 to 55-GW by the end of 2024.”

[2] These capacity factors are for 2023; complete and finalized data for 2024 are not yet available. See Tables 6.07.A and 6.07.B in any of EIA’s recent “Electric Power Monthly” reports.

Bossong, K. (2025, January 27). New U.S. Solar Capacity Added in November Was 2nd-Highest Ever While Solar-Generated Electricity YTD Grew 26%. SUN DAY Campaign. Sent via email.