Solar helps US clean power additions smash record despite wind slowdown: report

US clean energy installations had another "banner" year in 2023, breaking the prior record for installations set in 2021 by 12.5% despite a tough year for the wind power sector, the American Clean Power Association (ACP) said in a new report.

"2023 was the best year ever for the deployment of clean energy in the history of our nation, full stop," the group's CEO, Jason Grumet, said during a March 7 briefing.

The report said the US added 33.8 GW of new utility-scale clean energy projects in 2023, surpassing 2022 levels by 30%. Solar, wind and energy storage accounted for 77% of new US power capacity and lifted combined clean energy installations to 262 GW, which the ACP said is enough to serve the equivalent of 69 million American homes.

The gains were led by solar, with utility-scale solar additions soaring to 19.6 GW, up by 49% from 2022. Texas and California led the country in solar additions, bringing 5.9 GW and 2.3 GW of new capacity online, respectively.

Looking ahead, ACP said over 92 GW of additional US solar capacity is in the pipeline.

Energy storage installations nearly doubled from the prior year to 7.9 GW, bringing total operating capacity across the country to 17 GW. Texas and California again accounted for most of the growth, making up nearly three-quarters of the year's storage additions. The increase was buoyed by the Inflation Reduction Act's new tax credit for standalone energy storage projects, as well as rising solar generation and a decline in prices for key battery materials, according to ACP.

Another 170 GW of clean power capacity is in the pipeline, but the group warned that the US still lags what is needed to achieve the Biden administration's goal for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economywide by 2050.

"We need to be building about three times as much renewable power year over year over year," Grumet said. "So that's why we have no laurels to rest on."

Headwinds for wind energy

Despite a strong 2023 for solar and storage, combined onshore and offshore wind capacity additions had their slowest year of growth in a decade, ACP said.

The downturn stemmed largely from "policy uncertainty, high costs of capital, long permitting processes, siting barriers, and a challenging environment for building new transmission," the group said in a press release. Wind energy additions totaled 6.4 GW in 2023, down 27% from 2022.

But Grumet told reporters the downturn is expected to be "temporary," with the sector "looking at a rebound."

John Hensley, ACP's vice president of markets and policy analysis, said wind capacity additions in 2024 should be in line with the prior year or slightly better and that 2025 will represent "kind of a step change from the last couple years."

That recovery will stem from several factors, including the industry's adjustment to a different tax credit structure under the Inflation Reduction Act and stronger demand as generation interconnection queues improve, Hensley anticipated.