Solar power in the United States

The U.S. Department of Energy recently released its latest photovoltaic Future Study report, which said that to achieve the goal of decarbonization of the electric power system, the U.S. needs to more than triple the amount of new photovoltaic capacity installed each year, to more than 1 gigawatts by 2035. However, by the end of 2020, the CUMULATIVE installed pv capacity in the US was only 76 GW, far short of the target.

In the industry’s view, poor green power development policies and high grid costs are holding back the expansion of renewable power installations in the United States.

The growth rate of pv grid installation is far lower than expected.

It is understood that the report “Photovoltaic Future Research” was jointly released by the US Department of Energy and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The U.S. will need at least 1 gigawatt of photovoltaic capacity by 2035 if it is to achieve its goal of a 95 percent zero-carbon grid; To achieve net zero emissions, the United States would need at least 3 gigawatts of pv installed by 2050. At that point, the U.S. photovoltaic industry will supply at least 40 percent of the nation’s electricity.

According to the report, to meet the grid decarbonization goal, the United States will need to add more than 30 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity annually between this year and 2025, and more than 60 gigawatts annually between 2025 and 2030.

In a statement, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M.Granholm said the latest report shows that photovoltaic is by far the lowest-cost, fastest-growing clean energy source in the United States, providing enough electricity to power homes across the country.

In January this year, US President Joe Biden said that the US would use 100 percent of its electricity grid with clean electricity by 2035 and achieve a 50 percent reduction in emissions across the country by 2030. In the industry’s view, the study is the Biden administration’s “blueprint” for the development of the U.S. photovoltaic industry.

However, a number of foreign media quoted data released by the US Department of Energy as saying that in 2020, the US actually added only 15 million kilowatts of photovoltaic installed capacity for the whole year. By the end of 2020, the total cumulative photovoltaic installed capacity of the US only accounted for about 3% of the total power supply of the US, far short of the target.