The American Clean Power Association (ACP) released two new market reports and found that combined U.S. wind, utility solar, and energy storage capacity had the third-largest year on record in 2022 with more than 25 GW of capacity installed.
However, a decline in deployment volume from the previous two years, combined with an historically low Q1 2023, underscored what the group said represented “the continued headwinds facing the industry.”
Clean power dominated new power capacity additions in 2022, comprising nearly 80% of all new grid additions.
Following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) last summer, clean power has seen record levels of announced activity, ACP said, with the development pipeline growing to nearly 140 GW by the end of the first quarter. That was 11% above where it was at the same point a year earlier.
The organization cautioned, however, that “it is too early to see this activity translate into installations,” which it said slowed for the first time since 2017.
ACP CEO Jason Grumet said in a statement, “the clean energy transition will not succeed unless Congress and Governors enable the siting and construction of new energy facilities and support the build out of transmission that is required to bring clean power to the people.”
A trio of national renewable energy organizations sent a letter May 22 to House and Senate leadership urging the enactment of bipartisan transmission permitting legislation that they said builds on the clean energy policies included in the IRA.
“Research shows that we will need to double the pace of historical transmission deployment in order to maximize the carbon emission reduction benefits of this historic legislation,” the groups said in the letter. The letter was sent by the American Council on Renewable Energy, Advanced Energy United, and the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Subscribe today to the all-new Factor This! podcast from Renewable Energy World. This podcast is designed specifically for the solar industry and is available wherever you get your podcasts.
2022 highlights
During 2022 Texas added twice as much clean energy capacity as any other state (more than 9 GW), maintaining its status as the state with the most operating clean power capacity (nearly 55 GW). Iowa and South Dakota each generated more than half of their electricity from clean power last year.
Energy storage recorded a record year with 4 GW and 12 GWh commissioned, representing an 80% increase in total operating storage capacity. Hybrid project installations in 2022 were 60% higher than in 2021, setting a record in the hybrid space at nearly 6 GW of installations.
ACP said that in the nearly 140 GW development pipeline, solar accounted for 59% of all clean power capacity. Land-based wind accounted for 15%, battery storage represented 14%, and offshore wind claimed the remaining 13%.
Stalled growth?
However, progress during 2022 was not enough to continue the annual growth trajectory of U.S. clean power. ACP said the industry saw a decline in combined installation volume for the first time in five years and the lowest first quarter in three years.
Contributing to the deployment slowdown were delays that affected more than 50 GW of projects in late-stage development, with a total of 63.3 GW experiencing delays by the end of the first quarter. On average, these projects face delays of six months or longer, ACP said.
Project delays are primarily due to unclear permitting timelines, trade policy uncertainty, transmission shortages, difficulties sourcing solar panels, unresolved IRA implementation, and interconnection queue challenges with more than 1,741 GW waiting in queues at the end of 2022.
“These challenges must be addressed to unlock the full potential of the nearly 140 GW of clean energy in the development pipeline,” ACP said.
The first quarter recorded a 36% drop in clean power installations (4,079 MW) compared to a year earlier. Solar faced significant delays with 7.3 GW of capacity that had expected online in the first quarter stalled. Even so, around 90% of the quarter’s delayed capacity additions were expected to come online later in 2023.
ACP said that new Power Purchase Agreement announcements fell by 24% to 3.8 GW, with corporate buyers leading at 63%.
