U.S. Solar Energy to Continue Growth After Rapid Rise in 2023-24

Additions of solar-generating capacity across the U.S. outpaced other resources in 2023 and 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Earlier this year, the EIA forecast U.S. solar power generation will grow 75% from 163 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2023 to 286 billion kWh in 2025. The solar industry also has benefited from a sharp decline in utility-scale construction costs over the past decade. Industrial Info is tracking more than $25 billion worth of active and proposed solar-generation projects set to kick off across the U.S. in the first quarter, more than $21 billion of which is attributed to grassroot projects.

OMERS Infrastructure Management Incorporated (Toronto, Canada), which is among the top spenders on U.S. first-quarter solar kickoffs, is preparing to begin work on two grassroot projects in the U.S. Midwest: the $180 million Blackford Solar Plant in Hartford City, Indiana, which is expected to generate 150 megawatts (MW), and the $150 million Northern Prairie Solar Plant in New Richmond, Wisconsin, which is expected to generate about 101 MW. The Blackford project is expected to employ First Solar Incorporated's (NASDAQ:FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona) Series 6 Plus photovoltaic (PV) panels.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can learn more about OMERS' projects from detailed reports on the Blackford and Northern Prairie developments.

Other grassroot projects expected to kick off in the Midwest over the coming months include Ranger Power's (Chicago, Illinois) $288 million Hawkeye Solar Plant in Grand Mound, Iowa, which is designed to generate 200 MW, and Invenergy LLC's (Chicago) $180 million Meadow Forge Solar Plant in Muncie, Indiana, which is designed to generate 163 MW. Both projects are expected to use PV panels built by LonGi Group (Shaanxi, China). Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Hawkeye and Meadow Forge projects.

Indiana also will be home to two of the largest expansion projects for existing solar farms: Doral Renewables LLC's (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) $435 million Mammoth North Solar Plant in Monterey, which is expected to add 300 MW to the existing 400-MW plant, and Connor Clark & Lunn Financial Group's (Toronto, Ontario) $325 million Riverstart Solar Plant in Modoc, which is expected to double the existing facility's capacity to 400 MW. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Mammoth and Riverstart projects.

Energias de Portugal S.A. (Lisbon, Portugal), through subsidiary EDP Renewables North America LLC, is boosting its footprint in the North American solar market with both grassroot and expansion projects. The subsidiary is expected to begin construction on the 100-MW, $150 million Ragsdale Solar Project in Canton, Mississippi, and the 200-MW, $200 million addition to the Scarlet Solar Plant in Tranquillity, California, which is expected to bring the facility's full capacity to 600 MW. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Ragsdale and Scarlet projects.

In a recent interview with PV Tech, Sandhya Ganapathy, the chief executive officer of EDP Renewables North America, said the subsidiary is looking beyond well-established solar markets like California and Texas. She pointed to projects like the Ragsdale plant in Mississippi, as well as projects in Arkansas, rural Illinois and emissions-heavy Michigan, as examples of where the company would like to build in coming years.

Battery energy-storage system (BESS) units play a major role in many upcoming solar projects, such as NextEra Energy Incorporated's (NYSE:NEE) (Juno Beach, Florida) $325 million fourth-phase addition at its Duane Arnold Solar Plant in Palo, Iowa. The 220-MW expansion would bring the facility's total output to 720 MW, and it would be supported by a 180-MW, $650 million BESS unit. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the solar plant and BESS unit.

"The power sector is going to need to build more gas-powered generation and battery storage to meet growing capacity needs over the next decade," said John Ketchum, the chief executive officer of NextEra, in a recent earnings-related conference call. "And as we build more, we also enable more renewables to come to market as the lowest cost generation source of energy."

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for active and proposed solar-generation projects set to kick off across the U.S. in the first quarter.