Solar energy sets new monthly record

Federal regulators reported that, in November 2023, solar set a new monthly record – 1,982-MW of new capacity placed into service in one month.

“The solar panels installed in November alone are powering as many homes as New England’s largest coal plant did its heyday,” said Johanna Neumann, Senior Director of Environment America Research & Policy Center, referring to the Brayton Point Power Plant in Somerset, Massachusetts which closed in 2017.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reported that, in the first eleven months of 2023, solar energy provided nearly half of all the new energy that came online. Solar capacity additions through November were 43% greater than for the same period last year. These numbers don’t include rooftop solar, which is estimated to account for 31% of the nation’s solar electrical generation.

According to the forecast put out by FERC, within two or three years, solar will be the largest renewable energy source by capacity and second only to gas among all energy sources.

Why pay for polluting power from a power plant hundreds of miles away when solar panels on roofs can do the job even better?” said Neumann.