US Likely To Increase Solar Generation By 5.6% In 2024: EIA Outlook

US Likely To Increase Solar Generation By 5.6% In 2024: EIA Outlook Photo by-Chenavnon/Freepik

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its short-term energy outlook, anticipated solar electric generation to become the leading source of growth in the US electric power sector.

It elaborated, “In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), which contains new forecast data through December 2025, we forecast new capacity will boost the solar share of total generation to 5.6% in 2024 and 7.0% in 2025, up from 4.0% in 2023.” 

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The EIA report said, “We expect solar electric generation will be the leading source of growth in the US electric power sector. In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), which contains new forecast data through December 2025, we forecast new capacity will boost the solar share of total generation to 5.6% in 2024 and 7.0% in 2025, up from 4.0% in 2023.”

It elaborated, “The STEO includes two between the lines articles that discuss how our forecast for Brent crude oil prices performed in 2023 and a closer look at our Brent price forecast for 2024 and 2025. We expect U.S. crude oil and natural gas production growth to slow, but both continue to reach new records.”

Last year, the Energy International Agency (EIA) report on solar growth in the United States (US) suggested that the country witnessed an increase in installed capacity by an average rate of by 44% annually from 2009 to 2022. It forecasted that the US would generate 14% more electricity from solar energy than from hydroelectric facilities in 2024.

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The EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) report forecasted that the growth in solar would be driven by new utility-scale and small-scale solar facilities. The EIA reported that for the first time in September 2022, the United States had more solar-generated electricity than hydroelectric generation. Based on the Electric Power Monthly report, the US solar power plants and rooftop solar generated about 19 billion kilowatt hours, (kWh) compared with 17 billion kWh from U.S. hydropower plants.

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