• U.S. energy storage exceeds 20 GW milestone

• Texas now top solar state

• Clean energy powers equivalent of nearly 70 million homes

WASHINGTON, September 5, 2024 – The 91¸ŁŔű´óČ« Association (ACP) today released its Clean Power Quarterly Market Report | Q2 2024, showcasing extraordinary growth and milestones across the U.S. clean power landscape. In a record-breaking second quarter, U.S. developers added 11 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale clean power capacity, marking a 91% increase from Q2 2023. Ěý

The strong quarter brought year-to-date installations up to 19 GW, more than double the five-year average for H1 installations. With the second half of the year typically much stronger than the first half for clean power additions, the stage is set for a second consecutive record-breaking year in 2024.Ěý

“Clean energy is answering the call to unleash more American energy, with another record quarter of deployment. While all clean energy technologies are expanding their market share, energy storage is scaling at a stunning speed and has surpassed 20 GW of operating capacity,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet. “With rapidly growing demand and the need to make significant strides in decarbonizing our economy, the stakes are high. Our recent progress is encouraging, but we are not moving fast enough. ACP is committed to working with all stakeholders and policymakers to accelerate progress toward a secure, reliable, and clean energy future.”ĚýĚý

Major MomentsĚý

• Record Second Quarter: Developers added more than 11 GW of new utility-scale solar, storage, and wind capacity in the second quarter, 91% more than what was installed during the same period in 2023.Ěý

• Texas Takes the Lead: For the first time, Texas has surpassed California as the nation’s leading state for utility-scale solar capacity. With 1,656 MW added this quarter, Texas now boasts of 21,932 MW of operating solar power.Ěý

• Energy Storage Surges Past Milestones: The U.S. energy storage sector celebrated surpassing 20 GW of total operational capacity, adding 2.9 GW this quarter to reach a total of 21.6 GW.Ěý

• Robust Clean Power Pipeline: The annual growth in the clean power pipeline increased by 13% from the previous year, with significant expansions expected in offshore wind in the coming months.Ěý

• Onshore Wind Recovery: At mid-2024, 5.5 GW more onshore wind projects were under construction than at the same point in 2023, bringing the total volume under construction up to more than 14 GW.ĚýĚý

• Historic Volume of OSW Under Construction: Q2 2024 set a record for the most offshore wind capacity under construction with more than 4 GW of capacity.Ěý

Looking ForwardĚý

As the U.S. clean power sector heads into the second half of 2024, the data indicates potential for another record-setting year. With over 283 GW of clean power now operational—enough to power nearly 70 million homes—the industry continues to play a crucial role in modernizing our electricity generation.Ěý

A scaled-down version of the report is available to the public, with ACP membership granting access to the full Clean Power Quarterly Market Report | Q2 2024.Ěý

WASHINGTON DC, August 7, 2024 – A new report released today by the 91¸ŁŔű´óČ« Association (ACP) shows that, in the last two years, the U.S. clean energy industry has announced $500 billion in new investments, spurring the American economy and creating tens of thousands of new jobs.

ACP’s 2024 Clean Energy Investing in America report finds that the industry is leading a manufacturing renaissance, with plans to build or expand over 160 domestic manufacturing facilities along with announcements of more than 100,000 new manufacturing jobs nationwide.

“These historic investments are providing a powerful engine for job creation across the nation,” said ACP Chief Executive Officer Jason Grumet. “As demand for electricity continues to rise, clean power is answering the call and propelling a new era for American manufacturing. While recent progress is nothing short of remarkable, our ability to deploy new capacity with adequate speed and scale requires dramatic efficiency improvements in federal, state, and local decision making. ACP is encouraged by recent bipartisan progress to confront barriers to modernizing America’s energy economy. If we combine innovations in technology and governing, it is possible to achieve an energy system that is reliable, affordable, secure, and clean.”

Alongside the new data, the report presents stories of how this new clean energy manufacturing renaissance is revitalizing local economies. This progress underscores the nation’s commitment to expanding its energy portfolio and solidifying its position as a global leader in clean energy.

Clean Energy Investment: Highlights from the report include historic investments announced for the U.S. clean energy economy since August 2022:

• Total Capital Investment Announced: $500 billion
• Manufacturing Investment Announced: $60+ billion
• Realized Project Investments: $75 billion into projects that have come online in the last two years

Manufacturing Renaissance: The investment into clean energy is driving a new American manufacturing renaissance, marked by substantial new or expanded facilities and job creation:

• Total New Manufacturing Facilities Announced: 161 facilities
• Facilities Online and Operating: 42 facilities
• Facilities in Development: 119 facilities

Creating High-Quality Jobs: The clean energy manufacturing renaissance is also significantly contributing to American employment opportunities:

• Total New Manufacturing Jobs Announced: 100,000+
  • 20,000 jobs generated by operational facilities
  • 80,000 jobs expected from facilities in development

Building More Clean Power: The clean energy sector has continued to expand its generating capacity and ambitions:

• Capacity Announced: Over 300 GW, enough to power the equivalent of over 47 million American homes.
• Capacity Built: 55 GW
  • These projects generate enough energy to power the equivalent of over 10 million American homes.

Read ACP’s new Clean Energy Investing in America report here.

“Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee took a major step to strengthen the American economy, increase the resilience of our power sector, and accelerate the deployment of clean energy.ĚýLed by Senators Manchin and Barrasso, the strong bipartisan vote demonstrates that Congress retains the capacity to engage complex issues and reach pragmatic solutions on behalf of the American people.

“The leadership from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is critical to ensure that our nation can meet rapidly growing electricity demand.ĚýThe legislation is both bold and balanced, creating an effective policy framework for building new high-voltage transmission. Building out new transmission will help ensure affordable, reliable energy for American businesses and consumers.ĚýIn addition to accelerating clean energy deployment, the legislation would strengthen America’s energy dominance by promoting a diverse portfolio of domestic production.

“If we combine the strengths of our nation’s vast resources and technical prowess, we can meet growing energy demand with solutions that are affordable, reliable, and clean. By allowing America to build a modern energy future, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 will strengthen our economy while accelerating climate solutions.

“The 91¸ŁŔű´óČ« Association greatly appreciates the months of hard work that have gone into producing this bipartisan agreement, and we urge the Senate to swiftly advance this critical legislation.”

“Our nation’s future success and strength rests on building modern systems to produce, store, and distribute energy. We have the technology, workforce, and financial capital to build great things, but we lack a governing process that is designed to succeed. This legislation changes that.

“The Energy Permitting Reform Act will help our nation meet the growing demand for electricity, deploy transmission lines to deliver clean, reliable power, and strengthen American energy security. ACP has long advocated for comprehensive permitting reform. We applaud Senators Manchin and Barrasso for their steadfast leadership and look forward to moving this measure across the finish line—our nation’s energy future depends on it.”

The Minnesota Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act makes important changes to reduce redundancies and impressive efficiencies to the state’s permitting process at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MN PUC), the agency responsible for approving permits for large-scale energy projects, including wind, solar, and battery storage. Last year, Minnesota passed a law requiring its utilities to generate or procure 100% of retail sales for public utility customers from carbon-free resources by 2040, 55% of which must be renewable (i.e., wind, solar, hydro, biomass) by 2035.

“The Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act will be critical to meeting Minnesota’s goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040,” said Erika Kowall, Director, Midwest State Affairs, 91¸ŁŔű´óČ« Association (ACP). “Minnesota already ranks tenth in the nation for clean energy production, and Governor Walz’s leadership on this issue will deliver real value to Minnesotans moving forward. ACP looks forward to continuing to work with Minnesota leaders to help unleash the state’s full clean energy potential.”

Clean Grid Alliance (CGA), which works to advance renewable energy in the Midwest, was a strong advocate for the permitting package. “Siting and permitting is the largest roadblock to deploying renewable projects across the Midwest, and the reforms in this package ensure Minnesota’s policies demonstrate the state’s readiness to welcome the clean energy transition,” said Beth Soholt, Executive Director, CGA.

“Today’s announcement is an important step in building out America’s electric grid for a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. We commend all those at FERC who have helped reach this important milestone in the development of the transmission infrastructure our nation needs—but it cannot be the finish line.

“FERC has acknowledged the multiple benefits that transmission provides and has set out a process to ensure that all beneficiaries help to fund projects that reduce customer rates and keep the lights on. If implemented effectively, this will lead to much-needed expansion in transmission capacity on the U.S. grid. At the same time, there are also areas in the rule to build upon, especially with regard to the integration of new resources and enabling more transmission between regions.

“With demand for electricity growing, extreme weather becoming more common, and America’s power grid getting older and struggling to keep pace with the need for transmission expansion, the time to act is now.”

“There’s broad agreement, across industries and political aisles, that it simply takes too long to build critical infrastructure in the United States. Clean energy generation and transmission projects can sit in limbo for a decade, and it regularly takes longer to permit a project than it does to build it.

“Today’s action is a step toward improving our nation’s permitting processes, but much work remains to achieve the permitting goals set forth in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

“Congress must redouble its effort to establish durable, predictable, and efficient permitting processes. America has the industrial capability and economic strength to power our growing economy and safeguard our environment. Clean energy innovation and investment is surging. Our public decision-making processes need to keep up.”

In the letter, the groups highlight how upgrading and expanding the nation’s transmission network has taken on new immediacy.

“For the first time in two decades, demand for electricity is rising,” the groups explain. “Capacity exists to support this increasing demand and with the right investments can be brought online quickly.”

The groups underscore the national security benefits of a modernized transmission system, noting reports of a sharp uptick in direct cyber and physical attacks on the grid.

The letter signatories ask Congress to consider specific funding requests for DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, Office of Electricity, and Loan Programs Office, along with additional borrowing authority for the Transmission Facilitation Program. Such funding “is critical to unleashing domestic clean energy resources, safeguarding against emerging threats, catalyzing billions in private capital investment, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, and delivering low-cost energy to families and businesses,” the groups write.

The signatories on the letter include Advanced Energy United, Advanced Power Alliance, Advancing Modern Powerlines (AMP) Coalition, Alliance for Clean Energy New York, 91¸ŁŔű´óČ« Association, American Council on Renewable Energy, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Ceres, Clean Energy Buyers Association, Clean Grid Alliance, Conservative Energy Network, CTC Global, EarthGrid, Grid Action, Grid United, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure, Innergex, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Unit 1245, Interwest Energy Alliance, Invenergy LLC, League of Conservation Voters, Longroad Energy, MAREC Action, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, National Wildlife

Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, NextEra Energy Transmission, Niskanen Center, Oceantic Network, Onward Energy, Pattern Energy, RENEW Northeast, Renewable Northwest, Sierra Club, Solar Energy Industries Association, Sol Systems, Southern Renewable Energy Association, SouthWestern Power Group, Third Way, VEIR, and Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT) Coalition.

Click here to download a copy of the coalition letter.

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ABOUT ACORE:

For over 20 years, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has been the nation’s leading voice on the issues most essential to renewable energy expansion. ACORE unites finance, policy, and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy. For more information, please visit www.acore.org.

ABOUT ADVANCED ENERGY UNITED

Advanced Energy United educates, engages, and advocates for policies that allow our member companies to compete to repower our economy with 100% clean energy. We work with decision makers at every level of government as well as regulators of energy markets to achieve this goal. The businesses we represent are lowering consumer costs, creating millions of new jobs, and providing the full range of clean, efficient, and reliable energy and transportation solutions. Together, we are united in our mission to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy in the United States. Advanced Energy United is online at AdvancedEnergyUnited.org and @AdvEnergyUnited.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alex Hobson, ACORE’s Senior Vice President of Communications, hobson@acore.org, (202) 830-3592

Adam Winer, United’s Director of Communications, awiner@advancedenergyunited.org, (202) 391-0884

Chart: U.S. Annual and Cumulative Utility-Scale Clean Power Capacity Growth – Clean Power Annual Market Report | 2023Ěý

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2024 – The 91¸ŁŔű´óČ« Association (ACP) released its Clean Power Annual Market Report today, highlighting a landmark year for U.S. clean energy with more capacity installed in 2023 than in any previous year. The industry added a total of 33.8 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale clean energy projects, surpassing by 12.5% the previous annual installation record set in 2021. Solar and storage additions led the charge, shattering previous records for both technologies. Clean power accounted for most of the new power capacity installed.Ěý

The U.S. now has 262 GW of clean energy powering its grid, which is enough electricity to power the equivalent of 69 million American homes. As a result, the nation now generates 16% of its electricity from wind and solar. Clean energy can be found in 93% of congressional districts and in all 50 states. Future development looks promising, with the report finding project pipelines are reaching historic levels.Ěý

“Clean energy is fundamental to the American economy, accounting for more than 75% of all new power brought online last year. We are generating clean energy in every state and nearly every congressional district,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet. “It has been a banner year for storage and solar, and there is real excitement over the 123 newly announced manufacturing facilities that will bring economic development to communities across the country. But despite these achievements, we need to make even greater strides to meet our shared energy security and net-zero goals. ACP will continue to advocate for improvements to siting, permitting, and planning processes to accelerate the deployment of clean energy.”ĚýĚýĚý

Key highlights from the Clean Power Annual Market Report | 2023:Ěý

• Solar, wind, and storage accounted for 77% of all new power capacity installed.Ěý
• Utility-scale solar installations soared to 19.6 GW, with utility-scale projects leading the expansion.Ěý
• Energy storage capacity nearly doubled as developers connected 7.9 GW to the grid.Ěý
• Investment in domestic clean energy manufacturing has grown significantly, spurred by federal tax incentives.Ěý
• The development pipeline is up over 25% year-over-year to 170 GW, indicating robust future clean power growth.Ěý
• Clean energy is found in 93% of congressional districts and in all 50 states.

Utility-scale solar energy—bolstered by favorable federal policies and decreasing costs—experienced an exceptional year with nearly 20 GW installed across 44 states. Texas and California led the country in solar additions, bringing 5.9 GW and 2.3 GW of new solar online respectively. More than half of the 94 GW of solar in operation at the end of 2023 came online between 2020 and 2023. And more is on the way, with over 92 GW in the pipeline.Ěý

Battery storage demonstrated near-exponential growth by almost doubling installed capacity with around 8 GW installed. This brings total operating capacity to 17 GW. California and Texas accounted for nearly three quarters of the year’s storage additions, but a total of fifteen states added new storage capacity in 2023 (AZ, CA, CO, HI, MA, MN, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, TX, VA, VT). The rapid growth of storage was supported by a new tax credit for standalone storage, the boom in solar power, the value storage delivers during peak demand and times of grid stress, and a decline in prices for key battery materials.Ěý

The land-based and offshore wind sectors faced challenges in 2023, delivering 6.4 GW of wind power capacity—the slowest year for new wind installations in a decade. This slowdown was attributed largely to policy uncertainty, high costs of capital, long permitting processes, siting barriers, and a challenging environment for building new transmission.Ěý

Corporate buyers are playing an important role in driving up clean energy demand by purchasing clean power for their operations. The top three commercial and industrial (C&I) buyers in 2023 were Amazon, Meta, and Google. Meta leads as the top buyer of operating clean power, while Amazon leads with the most total clean power capacity contracted.ĚýĚý

The clean power industry remains optimistic for the future, especially as developers started construction on 41 GW of new projects in the final months of 2023. This brings the clean power pipeline to a record 170 GW. Nonetheless, the record-setting pace of annual installations still lags behind what is needed for the country to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. Ěý

A public version of the 2023 report is available, with the full 124-page document detailing 2023’s market trends available exclusively to ACP membership.Ěý