While the clear energy business celebrated the August passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the biggest clear energy funding in U.S. historical past, coverage challenges continued to restrict clear power progress within the third quarter, in accordance with a brand new report launched by the American Clean Power Association (ACP).
From July to September 2022, 3.4 GW of recent utility-scale clear power capability had been put in, bringing 2022 year-to-date installations to 14.2 GW, in accordance with the Clean Power Quarterly Market Report. Installations had been down 22% in comparison with the third quarter of 2021, and down 18% year-to-date.
Quarterly wind installations fell 78%, whereas solar installations dropped 23%.
Only battery storage, which commissioned 1.2 GW this quarter, elevated installations in comparison with the third quarter of 2021. Storage is having its greatest 12 months on file, with 2022 installations already practically even with complete 2021 volumes.
Project delays weighed closely on set up volumes as builders struggled to acquire solar panels, confronted provide chain challenges, and confronted ever-growing interconnection queues to attach tasks to the grid. In complete, 14 GW of unpolluted power capability was delayed this quarter, including to a rising backlog of delayed tasks that totals 36 GW – 63% of that are solar tasks.
“While the IRA is set to catalyze clean energy growth, the industry continues to deal with policy and regulatory challenges hindering development and deployment of clean power,” says JC Sandberg, interim CEO and chief advocacy officer.
“The solar market has faced repeated delays as companies struggle to obtain panels as a result of an opaque and slow-moving process at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Policy uncertainty around tax incentives constrained wind development, underscoring the near-term need for clear guidance from the Treasury Department so the industry can deliver on the promise of the IRA. Storage was the one bright spot for the industry and had its second-best quarter on record,” Sandberg continues. “The aggressive deployment of storage continues to drive down consumer energy costs and enhance grid reliability.”
Overall, Texas and California had the largest clear power deployments, together with large-scale wind, solar and battery hybrid developments, and standalone storage.
Amazon was the biggest purchaser of the quarter after asserting one other 2 GW of unpolluted power procurement within the U.S.
“ACP anticipates that the IRA will give industry the tools it needs to more than triple annual installations of wind, solar, and battery storage by the end of the decade. We expect the IRA to deliver 550 GW of new capacity by 2030, representing $600 billion in capital investment and growing the clean power workforce to nearly a million strong by 2030. We continue to work with relevant government decision-makers to quickly resolve remaining tax guidance, supply chain, and trade challenges to realize the IRA’s full potential. This is essential to set the nation on a path to achieve its clean energy goals,” concludes Sandberg.
Nearly 14.2 GW of unpolluted power capability had been delayed this quarter, of which greater than half had already skilled delays. In complete, ACP is monitoring 36.2 GW of delayed tasks, plus an additional 3.5 GW which were terminated or canceled.
Projects that failed to come back on-line this quarter have an anticipated delay of half a 12 months, whereas many have been pushed again a number of years. Less than half of the delayed capability is predicted on-line by the tip of the 12 months.
Solar dominates the clear energy mission pipeline but in addition accounts for almost all of delayed capability, at 63%. Land-based wind accounts for 23% of delays and battery storage the remaining 14%.
Solar panel detentions are stopping tasks from reaching completion and threaten to disrupt the tempo of future installations, whereas provide chain disruptions and grid interconnection delays have slowed the tempo of wind installations.
The 350 MW Azure Sky Wind Project, owned and developed by Enel in Texas, was the biggest wind mission to realize operations this quarter. The 123 MW/189 MWh storage portion of the mission is predicted on-line by the tip of the 12 months.
The largest hybrid mission commissioned this quarter was NextEra’s California-based Arlington (Riverside County Solar) Solar + Storage mission, with 231 MW of solar capability paired with 242 MW/968 MWh of battery capability. An further 133 MW of solar continues to be in growth.
AES’s California Lancaster Battery Storage, at 127 MW/508 MWh, was the biggest standalone storage facility on-line this quarter.
In complete, there are actually 216.4 GW of utility scale clear energy working, powering roughly 59 million properties throughout the nation. Sixty 5 % of that capability is land-based wind, 32% solar, 4% battery storage, and fewer than 1% offshore wind. Operational capability has elevated 7% because the begin of the 12 months.
As of the tip of the quarter, there are over 132 GW of unpolluted power capability in growth, together with 39 GW beneath building and 93 GW in superior growth. Between July and September, 2.5 GW of capability started building, and 4.6 GW entered superior growth.
Capacity getting into the pipeline has been waning over the previous few quarters, down 36% from Q2 and 40% from Q1.
Announcements of recent contracts by clear power patrons additionally slowed this quarter. Buyers and builders introduced 7.2 GW of recent power buy agreements (PPAs) this quarter, down 31% from the identical interval final 12 months. Year to this point, bulletins are down simply 3% in comparison with 2021.
Commercial and industrial (C&I) purchases account for 43% of bulletins, and utilities an extra 25%.
