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Fri, 12th Mar 2021 12:17:00 |
So Big It’s Boring: The Rise of Utility-Scale Solar |
In 2015, I was sitting with representatives of Strata Solar, Southern Company and the Arkansas Public Service Commission, waiting to go onstage. We were the last session of the last day of the conference in question — a tough time slot.
The speakers were talking about that bit of bad luck and joking that utility solar doesn’t get any love. Then someone chimed in, “Demand response, EVs, flow batteries — those are cool subjects. But the four of us know utility solar makes the real impact. We are big, but boring.”
In the second quarter of 2020, the U.S. hit 50 gigawatts of cumulative operating utility solar, without much pause to consider how momentous a milestone it was. In 2011, utility solar reached 1 gigawatt. It took roughly nine years for the country to hit 50 gigawatts, but now it’s on track to reach 100 gigawatts by the end of 2023. Under Wood Mackenzie’s current forecast, U.S. utility solar will surpass 250 gigawatts by 2029 and reach more than 1 terawatt of utility PV somewhere between 2042 and 2045.
Onshore wind currently is the top technology for annual capacity additions in the U.S. It will hold the No. 1 spot until 2022 when the combination of the stepdown of the federal Production Tax Credit and the growth in solar causes wind to drop to second place.
Read original full article
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