PVTIME – The 2025 utility-scale solar data update from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory records 30GW of new US utility-scale solar capacity in 2024, which is a 56% increase on the 19GW recorded in 2023. This accounted for over 54% of all new US electricity capacity last year.
However, growth was not evenly spread, with the majority of new capacity being added in Texas, the Midwest, and non-Independent System Operator regions in the West and Southeast. Specifically, ERCOT’s grid added 7.6GW, MISO’s added 6GW, and non-ISO West/Southeast areas (mostly Florida) added 4.7GW each.
The lab’s report notes that average capacity-weighted installation costs rose slightly. $0.16 per watt AC in 2023 to $0.17 per watt AC in 2024, based on 425 projects covering 92% of new builds. Costs varied by region: Prices in ERCOT were below $1.50 per watt AC, most ISOs around $1.50 per watt AC, and NYISO over $2.00 per watt AC. These differences are driven by factors such as land availability, local labour costs, and transmission upgrade expenses.
The national average levelised cost of electricity increased by 13%, from $53 per MWh to $60 per MWh before tax credits and from $36 per MWh to $41 per MWh after, due to higher financing costs, increased capital spending and slightly lower projected performance.
Nearly 99% of new projects in 2024 used single-axis trackers (236 projects), compared to just 12 that used fixed-tilt systems. Trackers are more appealing due to their lower costs and higher output in 2024; fixed systems are limited to areas with extreme terrain or high weather risk. Crystalline silicon module capacity almost doubled from approximately 13.3GW in 2023 to 23.4GW in 2024. Meanwhile, thin-film capacity increased modestly from 5.24GW to 6.13GW (an increase of less than 1GW), as First Solar remains the US’s primary thin-film manufacturer. By the end of 2024, the cumulative capacity of crystalline silicon reached 79.19GW, while that of thin film was 30.74GW.
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