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The U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) released a report on August 19 titled:
US Power Grid increased its generation capacity by 20.2 GW in the first half of 2024 (“Report”).
The source of the information in the report is EIAs Preliminary monthly inventory of electric generatorsJune 2024.
In the United States, project developers and power plant owners are expected to have added 20.2 gigawatts (“GW”) of utility-scale power generation capacity in the first half of 2024. For comparison, according to the EIA, this new capacity is 3.6 GW (21%) more than the capacity added in the first six months of 2023.
The EIA estimates that developers and owners are expected to add an additional 42.6 GW of capacity in the second half of the year. The report also breaks down the increases by the source of the generating capacity, noting:
- Solar energy expansion totaled 12 GW (59% of total expansion).
- Battery storage amounted to 4.2 GW (21%).
- Wind power amounted to 2.5 GW (12%).
- The nuclear power output was 1,114 MW.
The report also looked at retired capacity, which was estimated at 5.1 GW in the first half of the year. More than 51% of retired capacity was powered by natural gas. Coal was second at 41%.
A copy of the EIA report can be downloaded here.
