EIA estimates that renewable energy in the United States continued its steady growth throughout 2024, with solar leading the charge as the nation’s fastest-growing source of electricity.
The overall contribution of renewables increased by nearly 10 percent, providing almost a quarter of the country’s total electricity supply, a review of newly released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms.
Solar energy saw remarkable expansion, with a 26.9 percent increase in generation compared to 2023. Utility-scale solar, including photovoltaic and thermal systems, grew by 32.0 percent, while small-scale rooftop solar installations increased by 15.3 percent. In total, solar power accounted for nearly 7 percent of the nation’s electricity generation for the year.
December alone witnessed an impressive 42.0 percent jump in utility-scale solar output compared to the same month in 2023. Small-scale solar, which includes systems under 1 megawatt, represented 27.9 percent of all solar generation and contributed 1.9 percent to the overall electricity supply. Notably, electricity produced by small-scale solar now surpasses that of utility-scale biomass and far exceeds the output of geothermal and petroleum-based sources.
Wind power also saw solid growth, with a 7.7 percent increase in generation compared to the previous year, maintaining its position as the largest renewable electricity source. Wind accounted for 10.3 percent of total U.S. electricity generation, and when combined with solar, these two sources supplied over 17.2 percent of the nation’s electricity in 2024.
The total contribution of all renewable sources — including wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal — grew to 24.2 percent, up from 23.2 percent the year before. Renewables expanded at a significantly faster pace than fossil fuels, with a 9.6 percent increase in generation, nearly triple the growth rate of natural gas and more than ten times that of nuclear power. In December alone, renewables generated 10.1 percent more electricity than in the same month of 2023.
Wind energy surpassed hydropower by 87.2 percent in total electricity generation, and solar exceeded hydropower’s contribution by 25.2 percent. Additionally, wind and solar together generated 15.9 percent more electricity than coal and nearly matched nuclear power’s total share (17.2 percent vs. 17.8 percent). As a result, renewables further cemented their role as the second-largest source of electricity generation in the U.S., trailing only natural gas.
With renewable energy now supplying a quarter of the nation’s electricity, its growing presence underscores both its resilience and its increasing importance to the energy sector. However, ongoing policy challenges could influence future growth, SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong, warned.
GreentechLead.com News Desk