The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reports that, between 2010 and 2023, the global weighted average levelized cost of energy of concentrating solar power (CSP) fell from $0. 39/kilowatt-hours (kWh) to under $0.
Solar and wind energy will lead the growth in U.S. power generation for at least the next two years, according to EIA estimates. This report uses data from the EIA to analyze solar and wind capacity and generation over the past decade (2014 to 2023) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Join today! Solar has seen massive growth since 2000. There are now over 219 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity installed nationwide, enough to power over 37 million homes. In the last decade, solar deployments have experienced an average annual growth rate of 26%.
In 2022, PV represented approximately 46% of new U.S. electric generation capacity, compared to 4% in 2010. Solar still represented only 9.0% of net summer capacity and 4.7% of annual generation in 2022. However, 16 states generated more than 5% of their electricity from solar, with California leading the way at 27.3%.
• Total peak monthly U.S. solar generation increased by a factor of 8.8 from 2014 to 2023. Note: EIA monthly data for 2023 are not final. Additionally, smaller utilities report information to EIA on a yearly basis. Therefore, a certain amount of solar data have not yet been reported. "U.S. Total” includes DPV generation.
Small-scale solar produced an estimated 73,619 GWh or about 31% of all solar generation in 2023 — compared to 164,502 GWh generated by utility-scale installations. California generated the most electricity from small-scale operations (28,102 GWh) in 2023, which accounts for around 41% of the state's total solar electricity generation for the year.
Outside of California, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina were the states with the largest solar PV capacity. In recent years, solar power generation has seen more rapid growth than wind power in the United States. However, among renewables used for electricity, wind has been a more common and substantial source for the past decade.
In 2022, the estimated average battery price stood at about USD 150 per kWh, with the cost of pack manufacturing accounting for about 20% of total battery cost, compared to more than 30% a decade earlier. Pack production costs have continued to decrease over time, down 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
In 2022, about 60% of lithium, 30% of cobalt and 10% of nickel demand was for EV batteries. Just five years earlier, in 2017, these shares were around 15%, 10% and 2%, respectively.
In recent years, the explosive development of NEVs has led to increasing demand for NEV batteries, which has led to the rapid development of the NEV battery industry, resulting in increasing prices of raw materials manufactured and sold by raw material manufacturers, i.e., the upstream battery industry.
Just as analysts tend to underestimate the amount of energy generated from renewable sources, battery demand forecasts typically underestimate the market size and are regularly corrected upwards.
As volumes increased, battery costs plummeted and energy density — a key metric of a battery's quality — rose steadily. Over the past 30 years, battery costs have fallen by a dramatic 99 percent; meanwhile, the density of top-tier cells has risen fivefold.
In 2022, the estimated average battery price stood at about USD 150 per kWh, with the cost of pack manufacturing accounting for about 20% of total battery cost, compared to more than 30% a decade earlier. Pack production costs have continued to decrease over time, down 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
The unstoppable rise of batteries is leading to a domino effect that puts half of global fossil fuel demand at risk. Battery demand is growing exponentially, driven by a domino effect of adoption that cascades from country to country and from sector to sector.
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