World News

32160 readers

706 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

Rumblestiltskin@lemmy.ml

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

jackmarxist@lemmy.ml

zephyreks@lemmy.ml

OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml

229

US solar power capacity to expand by record 32 gigawatts in 2023, report says (www.reuters.com)

submitted 1 year ago by lntl@lemmy.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The U.S. solar industry expects to add a record 32 gigawatts (GW) of production capacity this year, up 53% on new capacity in 2022 and helped by investment incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, a report published on Thursday showed.

32 GW is a lot. The average thermal coal generating station in the US is 1GW and these stations have an average capacity of 50%. That means that this colar prodution capacity enables us to displace 64 coal stations during the daytime if consumption does not grow.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] HidingCat@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What's the total power consumption of the USA? Just want to know how much this makes up.

For those who're more familiar with solar, will there be an issue with solar panel farms taking up land (which may cause environmental issues)? Wonder if there's a balance to be struck there.

[–] jennwiththesea@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Looks like 4200 gigawatts/yr. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php

[–] HidingCat@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So not quite 1% even. Progress is progress, I guess.

What is scary is that barely 1% represents a hella lot of coal plants.

[–] eltimablo@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Actually, it looks like renewables have overtaken coal, with the majority of fossil fuel energy being provided by natural gas plants. I'm personally fine with newer LNG plants, since they (1) are actually quite clean, and (2) burn a byproduct that we get from making gasoline.

Source: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

Last i saw the US had just got to the point of having more solar generation than coal, it's a great milestone because in this broken world it means we'll have not solar lobbyists than coal lobbyists

[–] teegus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think you mean Twh not Gwh.. For reference Norway produces about 150 Twh a year

[–] agarorn@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

His unit was GW, not GWh. Maybe you are talking about the same if you multiply by 365x24.

[–] jennwiththesea@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I'm honestly not sure. Their mixed use of billions, trillions, kilo, giga, etc was confusing me.

[–] p1mrx@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

That's 4200 TWh/year, or 480 GW.

Though that ignores the power consumption that isn't electrical yet, like transportation and heating.

[–] Pretzilla@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Re: land use, see: agrivoltaics - dual, symbiotic use for solar + agriculture. They work very well together.