According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, developers and power plant owners added 20.2 GW of utility-scale electric generating capacity in the U.S. during H1 2024, 3.6 GW (21%) more as compared to the capacity added during H1 2023.
Solar additions totaled 12 GW, 59% of all additions, while Texas and Florida comprised of 38% of U.S. solar additions. The 690 MW solar and storage Gemini facility in Nevada and the 653 MW Lumina Solar Project in Texas were the solar projects introduced in H1 2024.
Battery storage made up 21% (4.2 GW) and were concentrated in California (37% of the U.S. total), Texas (24%), Arizona (19%), and Nevada (13%). The 380 MW battery storage capacity at Gemini and the 300 MW Eleven Mile Solar Center in Arizona were the projects operational in H1 2024.
Wind power recorded 12% (2.5 GW) of U.S. capacity additions. Canyon Wind (309 MW) and Goodnight (266 MW), both located in Texas, were the wind projects in service in in H1 2024.
Unit 4 (1,114 MW) at Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear power plant with four nuclear power reactors initiated commercial operations in April.
Operators retired 5.1 GW of generating capacity in H1 2024 as compared to 9.2 GW of generation in H1 2023. In H1 2024, 53% of the retired capacity used natural gas as its fuel, followed by coal at 41%.
The U.S. coal retirements include Seminole Electric Cooperative’s Unit 1 (626.0 MW) in Florida, which retired in January, and Homer City Generating Station’s Unit 1 (626.1 MW) in Pennsylvania, which retired in April. The six-unit, 1,413-MW Mystic Generating Station combined-cycle facility in Massachusetts was also retired in 2024.
Developers plan to add 42.6 GW of new capacity in the U.S. in H2 2024. Nearly 60% of the planned capacity is from solar (25 GW), followed by battery storage (10.8 GW) and wind (4.6 GW).
If utilities add all the solar capacity under planning, solar capacity additions will total 37 GW in 2024, almost double as compared to 18.8 GW in 2023. Utilities are expected to add 15 GW of battery storage capacity in 2024 if all planned additions are introduced.
Plans for storage capacity in Texas and California account for 81% of new battery storage capacity in the H2 2024. About 2.4 GW of capacity is scheduled to retire during H2 2024, including 0.7 GW of coal and 1.1 GW of natural gas.
