Solar power accounted for record 5% of U.S. electricity generation through first 10 months of 2022

PV Tech:

Solar energy accounted for over 5% of the total electricity generation in the US in the first 10 months of 2022 as solar output increased 26.23% year-to-date (YTD), according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration.

The data was reviewed in a report by non-profit research organisation the Sun Day Campaign, and showed that almost 23% of the US’ electricity was generated by renewable energy sources in the period January-October 2022. Total renewable electricity generation grew 14.3% in the last 12 months, whilst the total net generation increased by 3.14%.

Solar saw by far the greatest growth in the period, increasing by over 26% and accounting for 5.05% of total electricity output, and in October alone solar output was 31.68% greater than the same time a year earlier. In March 2016 solar energy’s YTD generation reached 1% for the first time, since which time its monthly generation has increased almost six times over.

Wind energy provided 9.8% of the US’ total electricity generation, whilst hydropower and geothermal energies both accounted for just over 6%.

Over the ten-month period, combined renewable energies outperformed coal and nuclear generation by 16.62% and 27.39%, respectively, though natural gas maintains the lion’s share of generation with 39.4%.

[Will Norman]

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