Wyoming Hitches A Trip On “Report-Shattering” US Photo voltaic Trade

Join each day information updates from CleanTechnica on e mail. Or observe us on Google Information!

The US photo voltaic trade is using excessive on a banner 12 months for brand spanking new capability in 2023, on the record-breaking tempo of 32.4 gigawatts. The skyrocketing trajectory might come to a screeching halt if new county-based restrictions maintain piling up. Nonetheless, strain from solar-friendly landowners might maintain the momentum going, and assistance is coming from deep within the coronary heart of coal nation.

Some US Counties Are Hating On The US Photo voltaic Trade…

Native county governments are the important thing to photo voltaic trade progress within the US, stemming from their approval energy over land use. They will approve or disprove particular person initiatives on a piecemeal foundation, and that’s nothing new for the US photo voltaic trade. The priority is {that a} rising motion to determine new county-based land use rules will make all of it however unimaginable to construct new utility-scale photo voltaic arrays.

The all-but-impossible strategy to photo voltaic trade regulation was comparatively uncommon up till final 12 months, when a sudden spurt in county-based blocking exercise surfaced. The pattern was documented by a analysis crew affiliated with USA At present, which printed the outcomes earlier this 12 months. They discovered that, for the primary time, extra counties have been pre-blocking new clear energy initiatives than allowing them, together with wind, photo voltaic, or each.

…However 2023 Was Nonetheless A “Report-Shattering” 12 months For The US Photo voltaic Trade

Regardless of the regarding pattern, the USA At present crew discovered that solely 15% of US counties have been all however utterly blocking wind, photo voltaic, or each in 2023.

That didn’t cease the US photo voltaic trade from breaking all types of data final 12 months.

The Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation ran the numbers with an help from the agency Wooden Mackenzie, and the numbers are spectacular. Photo voltaic accounted for a staggering 53% of recent electrical producing capability in 2023.

“The U.S. photo voltaic trade added a record-shattering 32.4 gigawatts (GW) of recent electrical producing capability in 2023, a 37% improve from the earlier report set in 2021 and a 51% improve from 2022,” SEIA elaborated in a press assertion this morning.

“This marks the primary time in 80 years {that a} renewable electrical energy supply has accounted for over 50% of annual capability additions,” SEIA added, referring to the heyday of hydroelectric building following the Nice Melancholy.

That’s only for starters. SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper advises that complete photo voltaic deployment will quadruple over the subsequent ten years, assuming continued help from federal coverage.

Producers To Assist US Photo voltaic Trade Chase The Clouds Away

Regardless of the considerations raised by the USA At present report, Hopper takes observe of an essential new alliance brewing in help of the US photo voltaic trade.

“The Inflation Discount Act is supercharging photo voltaic deployment and having a fabric influence on our economic system, serving to America’s photo voltaic module manufacturing base develop 89% in 2023,” she explains.

In different phrases, when new initiatives come up for approval, photo voltaic builders will not be on the market on their very own. The US photo voltaic manufacturing base has give rise to a complete new layer of lobbying in help of the photo voltaic trade. If some counties are reluctant to approve wind or photo voltaic arrays, they actually are going to suppose twice about turning down new manufacturing jobs.

Simply yesterday, for instance, CleanTechnica took observe of photo voltaic trade exercise brewing within the state of Tennessee. Legislators in Tennessee all however banned new wind farms statewide in 2018. On the photo voltaic facet, the SEIA ranks Tennessee a lowly #30 for put in photo voltaic capability in its state-by-state rating. One new mission has been blocked by a county-based moratorium on new photo voltaic arrays, which partly explains why SEIA ranks the state down within the #28 slot for projected photo voltaic progress.

Nonetheless, Tennessee officers have been all smiles final week, when the main electronics producer Shoals Applied sciences Group introduced an $80 million growth within the state. The corporate cited growing demand from the photo voltaic trade as the power driving its progress.

Chip in a couple of {dollars} a month to assist help unbiased cleantech protection that helps to speed up the cleantech revolution!

On Utility-Scale Photo voltaic, The Magic Phrase Is Agrivoltaics

CleanTechnica has additionally taken observe of the fast-growing area of agrivoltaics, which deploys photo voltaic arrays which might be designed to allow a working farm to proceed working. The newest developments contain new designs that let row crops to develop underneath the panels, although up to now a lot of the exercise is centered on co-locating photo voltaic arrays with livestock grazing (see heaps extra CleanTechnica agrivoltaics protection right here).

That dual-use potential helps to alleviate considerations over farmland loss. The agrivoltaic motion palms the photo voltaic trade a extra favorable case than the alternate options, comparable to paving farmland over with extra achievement facilities, company campuses, and housing developments.

That brings us to Wyoming, deep within the coronary heart of coal nation. The state’s wind trade started to take form a number of years in the past and it’s poised for a breakthrough 12 months, due to its prime “wind alley” assets.

Now the photo voltaic trade is taking a flip at bat. They’ve loads of room for progress in Wyoming, contemplating that the state hits the #46 slot in SEIA’s 2024 rating.

The newest information entails the Florida-based photo voltaic developer BrightNight. Final summer season, BrightNight introduced its intent to construct the Dutchman mission, a brand new 499-megawatt photo voltaic array on personal land in Converse County, Wyoming. The land is owned by a sheep rancher, who evidently intends to proceed elevating sheep alongside the brand new photo voltaic array.

Whereas that mission has been winding its method by way of the approval course of, BrightNight has been working additional time to persuade landowners in Wyoming and elsewhere to host new photo voltaic developments.

“Leasing your land for the event of a renewable energy mission is a good way to generate an earnings, spend money on your future, and preserve possession of your property for future use,” the corporate states. “BrightNight is working with lots of of landowners throughout the US. As our native accomplice, we work diligently to make sure you’re assured in each facet of our collaboration. We’re dedicated to protecting you knowledgeable because the mission strikes from an thought to a business operation.”

BrightNight actually doesn’t appear shy about giving the nation’s photo voltaic laggards a kickstart. The corporate can also be participating in Kentucky’s blossoming photo voltaic trade, the place the prospect of changing previous coal mines for power storage has begun to draw traders.

Maintain a watch out for extra information from BrightNight. The corporate secured a $375 million credit score facility in January, which is a monetary software utilized by the photo voltaic trade to chop by way of crimson tape. Credit score services allow debtors to attract from an ongoing pot relatively than having to use for a sequence of loans.

Comply with me @tinamcasey on Bluesky, Threads, Submit, and LinkedIn.

Picture (screenshot, cropped): The US photo voltaic trade had a banner 12 months in 2023, regardless of considerations over new county-based restrictions on utility scale photo voltaic improvement (courtesy of BrightNight).