Solar energy's share of total US electricity generation was only about 3.9% as of 2023. So it's not powering all that much today. However, the cost of PV modules continue to come down and installed capacity is growing very quickly. Here's an excerpt from a recent post by Brian Potter about solar energy:
By some metrics, solar PV has been deployed faster than any other energy source in history, going from 100 terawatt-hours of generation to 1,000 terawatt-hours in just 8 years, compared to 12 years for wind and nuclear, 28 for natural gas, and 32 for coal. In the US, solar PV projects are by far the largest share of planned new electrical generation capacity.
And here's a chart:
It's also interesting to look at which US states have the highest "capacity factors." The average for the entire US is 23%, which means that, on average, solar panels produce 23% of what they would if the sun were shining 24 hours a day. You might also think that the "sunshine state" would be one of the highest. But in fact, the top states are Utah and Arizona:
I'm highly interested in solar and we want to deploy it as much as we can on our projects going forward. If you're also interested in solar and want to learn more, Brian's post is an excellent place to start.
Images: Construction Physics
Here are some fascinating figures (from Environment America) about the growth of renewables in the United States:
Between 2011 and 2020, renewable energy production (solar, wind, and geothermal) grew at an average rate of 15% per year. Assuming this same rate of growth, the US could be on target to meet all of its electricity needs with renewables by 2035.
The US produces 23x more solar power and 3x more wind power than it did in 2011.
The median efficiency for new residential solar panels increased by 37% from 2010 to 2019. At the same time, the cost of distributed solar photovoltaic systems fell by 71% and the cost of utility-scale systems fell by about 80% between 2010 and 2018.
During this same time period (2010-2018), the cost of land-based wind power fell by 66%.
The median range of new electric vehicles increased by more than 3x between 2011 and 2020. The median range is now more than 250 miles on a single charge. By the middle of this year, cumulative plug-in EV sales surpassed 2 million units.
Texas is the US state that currently produces the most renewable energy.
To download the full report by Environment America, click here.
Photo by Nuno Marques on Unsplash
The MIT Senseable City Lab recently asked: How does urban morphology affect the solar potential of cities? If you assume that transparent photovoltaic cells are on the way and that building facades are soon going to become a place where we generate solar energy, then this is actually a pretty interesting question. Are some built environments naturally better suited than others?
To answer this question, they looked at the "urban surfaces" of ten cities, including New York, Singapore, Toronto (pictured above), Hong Kong, Paris, as well as others. These surfaces included roofs, facades, and ground planes.
What they, not surprisingly, discovered is that you need a lot of exposed facades to get the numbers up. And so the cities that come out on top in terms of annual solar irradiation are cities like New York and Singapore. They have a lot of tall buildings, but they also fluctuate in height, giving greater exposure to the facades.
All of this is potentially relevant because -- if building facades become a big deal for solar -- it could start to inform how we plan our cities. In fact, I would go so far as to bet that, over the long-term, solar energy will have a greater impact on urban morphologies than this current pandemic.
Image: MIT Senseable City Lab