“It is a great day for the Sunrise Wind project. The Record of Decision approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Orsted’s Final Investment Decision for Sunrise Wind marks a significant step forward for U.S. offshore wind deployment. Once fully constructed, Sunrise Wind’s 924 megawatts will have the capacity to power nearly 600,000 homes in New York, revitalize ports, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth throughout the region. We applaud the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other federal agencies who thoroughly reviewed the Construction and Operations Plan. BOEM’s approval of offshore wind projects is crucial for delivering more clean, renewable energy and is a critical step toward New York reaching a carbon-free electrical grid by 2040.”

“The Biden Administration’s announcement today is a big win for communities in the clean energy transition. This guidance will spur the growth of offshore wind by encouraging significant private sector investments and new jobs in historically disadvantaged communities. 

“Including ports in this bonus tax credit will revitalize hard working communities that have long been engines of economic growth. The Administration’s action is yet another example of the economic opportunities created by the clean energy transition.” 

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, March 20, 2024 – The US energy storage market shattered previous records for deployment across all segments in the final quarter of 2023, with 4,236 megawatts (MW) installed over the period, a 100% increase from Q3 according to a new report released today.

For the first time, the grid-scale segment exceeded 3 gigawatts (GW) deployed in one quarter and nearly topped 4 GW, according to Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report. With 3,983 MW of new capacity additions, the quarter saw a 358% increase compared to the same period in 2022.

“The energy storage industry continues its incredible growth trajectory, with a record quarter helping drive home a banner year for the technology,” said John Hensley, ACP’s Vice President of Markets and Policy Analysis. “These additions bring with them critical benefits to our power grid. Energy storage has unique capabilities to address grid resilience, with the ability to serve as generation, load, and transmission. These benefits to the grid have been evident, especially in recent years, as storage has provided reliability and stability during critical moments like historic heatwaves. With a robust pipeline, the future for energy storage deployment is strong.”

Vanessa Witte, senior analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s energy storage team, said: “Q4 2023 was extremely strong for the US energy storage market, helped by easing supply chain challenges and system price declines. The quarter was commanded by deployments in the grid-scale segment, which recorded the highest quarter-on-quarter growth of any segment, ending the year with a 113% increase over Q3 2023. California continued to lead installations in both MW and MWh terms, closely followed by Arizona and Texas.”

For the US residential segment, deployments reached 218.5 MW, which barely exceeded the previous quarterly installation record of 210.9 MW set in Q3 2023. Market gains in California were offset by a contraction in Puerto Rico, which follows a “roller-coaster” as incentive funds open and close.

The Community, Commercial, and Industrial (CCI) segment remained stagnant QoQ with 33.9 MW installed in Q4, where installed capacity was split relatively evenly between California, Massachusetts, and New York.

According to the report, total deployments in 2023 across all segments reached 8,735 MW and 25,978 MWh, representing an 89% increase over 2022. While just shy of doubling year-on-year, this record-breaking achievement was projected earlier in 2023 and very much aligns with Wood Mackenzie and ACP’s expectations outlined in previous reports.

Witte added: “Total grid-scale installations reached 7,910 MW and 24,000 MWh for 2023, which is a 98% increase over 2022 installations. Our updated five-year forecast now extends to 2028 and projects 59 GW of new capacity additions in that timeframe.”

According to the report, distributed storage exceeded 2 GWh in 2023, which is another first for the market. This was helped by a higher than average first quarter for the CCI segment, and over 200 MW of installations in Q3 and Q4 each in the residential segment.

Over the next five years, the residential market will continue to boom, with more than 9 GW due to be installed. While the cumulative volume installed for the CCI segment is forecasted to be less than that, at 4 GW, the growth rate is over double, at 246%.

“The U.S. is poised to become a global leader in floating offshore wind. Today, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management committed the U.S. to doing so and should be commended for their careful work on the final Gulf of Maine Wind Energy Areas. Led by the efforts of Maine Governor Janet Mills, the Northeast is ready to support the innovation, jobs, and economic boost the offshore wind industry will deliver to the region.” 

“This stakeholder process has served as a shining example of how to work with local communities and stakeholders to allow for the OSW development necessary for environmental and economic goals, while preserving existing areas for use by other critical industries. We look forward to working with BOEM as they move to the next step of a lease sale in 2024, and with all stakeholders to ensure Mainers enjoy the full benefits of the Gulf of Maine’s natural resources and a clean energy future.” 

“Bringing clean, emissions-free offshore wind energy to Long Island has been a long time coming. Construction supported hundreds of U.S. workers along the supply chain that will bolster the economy in New York and beyond. At the American Clean Power Association, we celebrate this new clean electricity source for New York State and know it will be the first of many for the nation.  

“The completion of the South Fork Wind Farm is truly exciting news. We congratulate Gov. Hochul, the Long Island Power Authority, and the Orsted and Eversource teams on this significant accomplishment. And we appreciate that this could not have been possible without the sustained efforts of the Biden Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.”

“Tonight, President Biden underscored our nation’s record-breaking production of clean, secure American energy. Clean energy is powering more American homes and businesses than ever before and hundreds of manufacturing facilities are opening all across the country building the wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries that are growing our economy. Just today, we announced that the industry deployed a record 34 gigawatts of clean energy in 2023, accounting for nearly 80 percent of all new power additions in the U.S.

“While clean energy production and manufacturing is lifting up communities across the country, we are not moving nearly fast enough to meet critical environmental and national security goals. Policymakers must enact commonsense reforms that accelerate responsible permitting, support resilient supply chains, and build the long-haul transmission needed to ensure that American energy is reliable, affordable, and clean.”

Chart: U.S. Annual and Cumulative Utility-Scale Clean Power Capacity Growth – Clean Power Annual Market Report | 2023 

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2024 – The American Clean Power Association (ACP) released its Clean Power Annual Market Report today, highlighting a landmark year for U.S. clean energy with more capacity installed in 2023 than in any previous year. The industry added a total of 33.8 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale clean energy projects, surpassing by 12.5% the previous annual installation record set in 2021. Solar and storage additions led the charge, shattering previous records for both technologies. Clean power accounted for most of the new power capacity installed. 

The U.S. now has 262 GW of clean energy powering its grid, which is enough electricity to power the equivalent of 69 million American homes. As a result, the nation now generates 16% of its electricity from wind and solar. Clean energy can be found in 93% of congressional districts and in all 50 states. Future development looks promising, with the report finding project pipelines are reaching historic levels. 

“Clean energy is fundamental to the American economy, accounting for more than 75% of all new power brought online last year. We are generating clean energy in every state and nearly every congressional district,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet. “It has been a banner year for storage and solar, and there is real excitement over the 123 newly announced manufacturing facilities that will bring economic development to communities across the country. But despite these achievements, we need to make even greater strides to meet our shared energy security and net-zero goals. ACP will continue to advocate for improvements to siting, permitting, and planning processes to accelerate the deployment of clean energy.”   

Key highlights from the Clean Power Annual Market Report | 2023: 

• Solar, wind, and storage accounted for 77% of all new power capacity installed. 
• Utility-scale solar installations soared to 19.6 GW, with utility-scale projects leading the expansion. 
• Energy storage capacity nearly doubled as developers connected 7.9 GW to the grid. 
• Investment in domestic clean energy manufacturing has grown significantly, spurred by federal tax incentives. 
• The development pipeline is up over 25% year-over-year to 170 GW, indicating robust future clean power growth. 
• Clean energy is found in 93% of congressional districts and in all 50 states.

Utility-scale solar energy—bolstered by favorable federal policies and decreasing costs—experienced an exceptional year with nearly 20 GW installed across 44 states. Texas and California led the country in solar additions, bringing 5.9 GW and 2.3 GW of new solar online respectively. More than half of the 94 GW of solar in operation at the end of 2023 came online between 2020 and 2023. And more is on the way, with over 92 GW in the pipeline. 

Battery storage demonstrated near-exponential growth by almost doubling installed capacity with around 8 GW installed. This brings total operating capacity to 17 GW. California and Texas accounted for nearly three quarters of the year’s storage additions, but a total of fifteen states added new storage capacity in 2023 (AZ, CA, CO, HI, MA, MN, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, TX, VA, VT). The rapid growth of storage was supported by a new tax credit for standalone storage, the boom in solar power, the value storage delivers during peak demand and times of grid stress, and a decline in prices for key battery materials. 

The land-based and offshore wind sectors faced challenges in 2023, delivering 6.4 GW of wind power capacity—the slowest year for new wind installations in a decade. This slowdown was attributed largely to policy uncertainty, high costs of capital, long permitting processes, siting barriers, and a challenging environment for building new transmission. 

Corporate buyers are playing an important role in driving up clean energy demand by purchasing clean power for their operations. The top three commercial and industrial (C&I) buyers in 2023 were Amazon, Meta, and Google. Meta leads as the top buyer of operating clean power, while Amazon leads with the most total clean power capacity contracted.  

The clean power industry remains optimistic for the future, especially as developers started construction on 41 GW of new projects in the final months of 2023. This brings the clean power pipeline to a record 170 GW. Nonetheless, the record-setting pace of annual installations still lags behind what is needed for the country to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.  

A public version of the 2023 report is available, with the full 124-page document detailing 2023’s market trends available exclusively to ACP membership. 

“We applaud the Hochul Administration for their steadfast support of clean, renewable offshore wind power. These awards for the Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1 projects demonstrate the state’s commitment to offshore wind and diversify its energy portfolio, representing a significant step forward to building a sustainable energy future for generations to come. By investing in and advancing offshore wind development, New York is paving the way for other states and regions to follow suit, enabling a nationwide shift toward a low-carbon future that will create jobs, revitalize ports, and enhance grid reliability.”

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 26, 2024 — As the comments period comes to a close on the U.S. Treasury Department’s proposed guidance on clean energy investment and production tax credits for green hydrogen projects, a new study conducted by global energy and natural resources research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie and commissioned by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) shows the Administration’s guidelines requiring hourly matching starting in 2028 will limit the ability of the green hydrogen industry to get off the ground.

Green hydrogen, produced using renewable electricity, is critical to decarbonizing the U.S. economy. The Department of Energy estimates low-carbon hydrogen can eliminate 10 percent of economy-wide emissions by 2050. While Treasury’s 45V tax credits are intended to catalyze the still-nascent low-carbon hydrogen industry in the U.S., the new study released today finds the Administration’s proposed guidelines will stifle green hydrogen deployment by making it too expensive.

Wood Mackenzie’s analysis finds that ACP’s proposal, issued in June 2023, leads to significantly more green hydrogen deployment by 2032 and puts the industry closer to the pathway required to achieve a net-zero emissions economy. Wood Mackenzie also concluded that the annual matching regime for first movers in ACP’s proposal would not lead to additional emissions. In fact, the Treasury proposal is expected to result in higher hydrogen emissions impacts due to the greater adoption of blue hydrogen that results from the lack of green hydrogen deployment.

Even under ACP’s proposed rules, the report stresses that more support is needed to achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide, or low-carbon hydrogen production targets such as those envisioned in DOE’s National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap. The fledgling sector faces challenging market conditions.

“Green hydrogen is an important part of the U.S. decarbonization journey, but electrolyzer technology needs time to scale. Regardless of what time-matching guidelines are imposed, the market conditions for green hydrogen are challenging. It’s clear from our analysis that hydrogen will require support well into the 2030s, and that a more stringent temporal matching regime will result in reduced green hydrogen deployment,” said Wood Mackenzie’s Head of Global Hydrogen Consulting Melany Vargas.

“Getting this guidance right will determine whether a U.S. green hydrogen industry moves forward in the next decade. Green hydrogen is essential to addressing the climate crisis without harming American manufacturing. This study demonstrates that the current Treasury proposal will not achieve the economic or environmental goals articulated by Congress or the Administration,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet. “If Treasury takes a close look at this data and the numerous analyses from companies hoping to invest billions of dollars in green hydrogen facilities, we believe they will make the changes necessary to get this industry off the ground.”

Wood Mackenzie’s study can be found here: https://cleanpower.org/resources/45v-implications-on-green-hydrogen-industry