The photo is sourced from Volvo Energy
Texas and Florida, regions with a favorable climate, accounted for 38% of the newly-launched solar energy facilities. The largest solar power plant launched in the first half of 2024 was the Gemini project with a capacity of 690 MW in the western state of Nevada. Western U.S. states also topped the list in terms of new storage devices: California accounted for 37% of the newly-launched energy storage capacity, with Texas at 24%, Arizona at 19% and Nevada at 13%.
The capacity of wind power plants (WPPs) launched nationwide in the first half of 2024 reached 2.5 GW, of which 575 MW came from the two largest WPPs, Canyon Wind (309 MW) and Goodnight (266 MW), both located in Texas. The capacity of newly-launched NPPs totaled 1.1 GW thanks to the fourth reactor of the Vogtle NPP in Georgia coming on stream. As a result, the Vogtle NPP has become the largest of all operating nuclear power plants in the United States (4.5 GW).
The capacity of facilities decommissioned in the first half of 2024 reached 5.1 GW, of which over 90% was represented by coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. This includes, among others, the first power unit of the coal-fired TPP Seminole Electric Cooperative in Florida (626 MW), the first power unit of the coal-fired TPP Homer City in Pennsylvania (626 MW) and six power units of the Mystic power plant (1,413 MW), which used to be the third largest gas-fired TPP in the New England states.
According to an EIA forecast, new capacity additions in the U.S. power sector in the second half of 2024 will reach 42.5 GW, of which 25 GW will come from solar panels, 10.8 GW from energy storage, 4.6 GW from wind turbines and 2.1 GW from all other types of power plants.