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The United States also installed a record 1.6 GW of grid-scale energy storage in the first quarter of 2025, according to a report by the American Clean Power Association (ACP). The United States installed 7.4 GW of utility-scale solar, wind, and storage in the first quarter of 2025, just shy of the record 8.1 GW installed in the first quarter of 2024, according to a new report from the ACP. Solar led the way in new clean energy installations with 4.4 GW added in the first quarter, followed by energy storage with a quarterly record of 1.6 GW and wind with 1.3 GW. The 4.4 GW of solar added in the quarter was down 30% from the record Q1 2024 figure. Florida led the states in Q1 2025 installations, adding 894 MW of new capacity, just over 20% of all grid-scale solar added in the quarter. The largest solar project to begin commercial operations during the quarter was the 435 MW Dunns Bridge Solar II project in Starke County, Indiana, owned by Northern Indiana Public Service Company and developed by NextEra Energy Resources. The project is paired with a 56 MW/225 MWh battery storage system and supplies power to NIPSCO customers in northern Indiana. Grid-scale battery energy storage is experiencing a surge in installations, with total capacity increasing 65% year-over-year, according to the report. The two largest battery storage projects to come online in the first quarter were NextEra Energy Resources Silver State South Storage in Nevada and AES Indianas Pike County Energy Storage in Indiana. Both projects have a 200 MW capacity and a four-hour design duration, according to the ACP. To date, the United States has a cumulative total of 156 GW of grid-scale wind power, 134 GW of utility-scale solar power, and 30.6 GW/83 GWh of battery storage. In total, the United States has 321 GW of clean energy capacity in operation, enough to power 80 million homes, according to the ACP. Looking ahead, the clean energy project pipeline continues to grow. More than 184 GW of solar, wind, and storage are under development, representing a 12% year-over-year increase. The sustained portfolio growth in recent years is primarily driven by battery storage and solar, which have grown by 35 GW and 21 GW respectively since the first quarter of 2022, according to the ACP. “Clean energy is ready for massive deployment. With unprecedented growth in electricity demand, we must send consistent investment signals across the energy sector,” said ACP Executive Director Jason Grumet. “We have the technology, investment capital, and workforce to build the more than $300 billion in clean energy projects we have in development. The biggest threat to a reliable energy system is an unreliable political system.” The ACP noted that industry growth is particularly strong in Republican-leaning states, where domestic manufacturing and energy production have created nearly 650,000 direct and indirect jobs and generate $3.4 billion in annual taxes and payments to rural landowners. However, a Republican-led House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill that the Solar Energy Industries Association called “unworkable legislation.” Uncertainty over the future of tax credits has already led to the cancellation of an estimated $14 billion in clean energy projects and factories in 2025 alone. Among other changes, the proposed Big, Beautiful Bill—a bill championed by President Donald Trump—would eliminate the clean energy investment tax credit and the production tax credit five years ahead of schedule, in 2028. The bill now moves to the Senate for a vote. |
