Progress of the Solar Industry
The rise of solar energy to the top as a key resource is inevitable now. It is at the center stage of the United States’ plans for a decarbonized economy, representing 70% of the high probability utility-scale power capacity planned through 2025.
Technology has contributed a negligible amount of power less than ten years ago. As reported by Energy Information Administration (EIA), the reporting of the annual net generation of PV didn’t begin till 2014.
In 2014, solar contributed 27 TWh of electricity to the U.S grid significantly. Approximately seven years later i.e., in 2021, it generated 164 TWh, almost six times since its beginning.
Progress has been possible through supportive industrial policy, and economies of scale to improve technological efficiencies and business innovations. The Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) has fallen through the years all due to the rise of awareness of solar benefits and energy storage becoming more crystallized.
The impact of the solar industry on the U.S is remarkably huge. Investments in solar would reach $321 billion by the year 2030, nearly double the current figure of $177 billion.