Data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that solar and wind were the fastest-growing sources of electricity in the country in the first half of 2024. Together, all renewable energy sources provided 26% of US electricity generation in the first half of 2024.

According to a review of published data by the SUN DAY Campaign, the combination of utility-scale and “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar increased by 26.3% in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 30.4% while small-scale solar PV increased by 17.4%. Together, solar was almost 7.0% (6.9%) of total US electrical generation for the period. Small-scale solar (i.e., <1-MW systems) accounted for nearly 30% of all solar generation and provided 2% of the US electricity supply in the first six months of this year.

The data showed that small-scale solar PV now generates nearly twice as much electricity as utility-scale biomass, and more than five times as much electricity as utility-scale geothermal batteries or a mix of petroleum liquids and coke.

After a significant decline in 2023, wind power has rebounded this year. The country’s wind farms increased output by 8.2% in the first six months of 2024 compared to a year ago.

The combination of wind and solar provided 18.6% of the country’s electricity generation in the first half of 2024.

Compared to the same period in 2023, hydroelectric power generation increased by 0.5% in the first half of this year.

In the first half of the year, electricity generation from the mix of all renewable energy sources (i.e., solar, wind, and hydropower plus biomass and geothermal) increased 9.6% compared to the same period a year earlier, accounting for 26.0% of total generation. Renewables accounted for 25.0% of electricity generation in the first six months of 2023.

“Driven by solar and wind, the mix of renewable energy sources is adding, on average, a percentage point or more each year to their share of the nation’s electrical generation,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “Solar and wind now individually out-produce hydropower while the combination generates more electricity than does either coal or nuclear power.”

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