U.S. solar capacity additions in the third quarter surged 46% from the year-ago period as developers connected 2,369 MW of new capacity to grids.
No state saw more new solar generation than Texas, which added 884 MW, roughly 37% of the total additions in the quarter. The new additions meet demand from technology giants such as Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc., municipal utilities such as Austin Energy and other off-takers looking for greener power generation.
The U.S. now has 55,501 MW of solar power capacity, a figure that excludes distributed generation.
Another 18,003 MW of capacity is under construction, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows. That figure is 14% of a development pipeline of 126,857 MW of solar power capacity slated to come online through 2025.
The pipeline grew by roughly 6 GW from the second quarter, when capacity additions slowed from the second quarter of 2020.
New solar projects connected to grids in the quarter were paired with 127.6 MW of battery storage capacity.
Enel SpA's 225-MW Azure Sky Solar Project in Haskell County, Texas, is paired with a 77.6-MW battery storage system. The project is part of Enel Green Power North America Inc.'s push to build 1.5 GW of renewable energy capacity in the U.S. in addition to 319 MW of storage. The Home Depot Inc. contracted for 75 MW of output from the project.
Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC acquired the High Desert Solar & Battery Storage Project in San Bernardino County, Calif. The 100-MW solar farm is backed by 50 MW of storage. The Clean Power Alliance, the state's largest community choice aggregator, agreed to purchase the project's output for 15 years.
Developers announced 13 new projects in the quarter, totaling roughly 609 MW of capacity. S&P Global Market Intelligence estimated the construction costs will be nearly $800.8 million.
Four of those projects are paired with battery storage systems; all of them are in Illinois. The combined storage capacity is 30 MW. The projects are part of Vistra Corp.'s push to build new solar and storage sites in the state following Gov. J.B. Pritzker's approval of a climate bill in September that included a Vistra legislative priority, the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Act.
Vistra in September announced plans to retire more than 6,800 MW of coal-fired capacity in Illinois and Ohio as it set a new goal of net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury. Vistra said it will invest more than $550 million to build up to 300 MW of utility-scale solar and 150 MW of battery storage facilities at nine retired or to-be-retired coal plants.
Vistra's four projects include the 68-MW Baldwin Solar Plus Battery Storage. The project, located at the site of the 1,185-MW coal-fired Baldwin Energy Complex, includes 9 MW of battery storage capacity. The 60-MW Kincaid Solar & Battery Energy Storage Project, backed by a battery system with 8 MW of capacity, will be located at the 1,108-MW Kincaid Generation LLC coal-fired plant. The 52-MW Newton Solar & Energy Storage Project, which includes 7 MW of storage capacity, will be located at the 615-MW Newton coal-fired plant. The coal plants are slated to retire no later than 2027.
Vistra also announced the 44-MW Coffeen Solar & Battery Storage Project in Montgomery County, Ill. which will include a 6-MW storage system.
Florida-headquartered NextEra Energy Inc. has the largest solar capacity pipeline in the U.S., with 10,979 MW of capacity. Most of the capacity, 8,459 MW, is in early development, and 1,484 MW is under construction, according to the data. Chicago-based Invenergy LLC leads the nation with solar projects under construction, with 1,870 MW of capacity underway.