by Michael Bates
The U.S. added a record-breaking 9.3 GW of new solar module manufacturing capacity in the third quarter, including five new or expanded factories in Alabama, Florida, Ohio and Texas.
Total U.S. solar module manufacturing capacity is now nearly 40 GW.
The latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Q4 2024 report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie shows that at full capacity, U.S. solar module factories can produce enough equipment to meet nearly all demand for solar in the United States.
Notably, solar cell manufacturing resumed in the third quarter as silicon cells were manufactured in the U.S. for the first time since 2019.
The U.S. solar industry installed 8.6 GW of new electricity generation capacity in Q3, representing a 21% year-over-year increase and the largest third quarter ever for the industry.
The utility-scale segment led the industry, with 6.6 GW of new projects coming online. Utilities and businesses are driving this growth as they procure significant levels of solar to meet rising demand for electricity. The commercial and community solar markets also experienced strong gains in the third quarter, growing by 44% and 12% year-over-year, respectively.
Texas continues to lead the nation in solar deployment, adding 2.4 GW of capacity in Q3. The Lone Star State accounts for 26% of all new capacity to come online so far in 2024. Florida has installed the second-most solar capacity in 2024, and nearly 30,000 Florida households have installed solar this year.
In the last two years, 1.4 million American households have used federal incentives to install solar and lower their energy costs.
“Our current outlook for the next five years has the U.S. solar industry growing 2 percent per year on average, reaching a cumulative total of nearly 450 GW by the end of 2029,” says Michelle Davis, head of solar research at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report.
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