Solar Energy, Criticized by Trump, Claims Big U.S. Gain in 2024

According to a new industry report released this week, the addition of solar energy capacity to the national grid system in 2024 represented the greatest gain from any single energy source (clean and dirty energy combined) in more than two decades – thank you President Biden.

The report, produced by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie, a research firm, determined that over 50 gigawatts of new solar generation capacity was added last year to the national grid, far more than any other source of electricity.

The report data was released a day after the Trump appointee U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, strongly criticized solar and wind energy on two fronts. Wright, speaking to a room full of fossil fuel stakeholders at CERAWeek, an annual energy conference held in Houston, explained falsely that solar and wind power cannot meet the growing electricity needs of the world, and that their use was driving up energy costs.  Both statements were contrary to the facts. Especially in terms of solar energy’s unprecedented contribution in lowering energy production costs and to lowering ratepayers use costs associated with the clean energy source.

Wright went onto claim, without foundation or facts, that “Beyond the obvious scale and cost problems, there is simply no physical way wind, solar and batteries could replace the myriad uses of natural gas.” Mr. Wright, was previously chief executive of an oil and gas production company before Trump appointed him to the role of U.S. energy secretary.

Solar energy and battery storage systems have also gained significant market adoption momentum in recent years and may not be easily thwarted, and certainly not by a present administration bent on resurrecting 1950’s energy policy solely based on a fossil fueled economy.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which is part of Mr. Wright’s department, said last month that it expected solar and batteries to continue leading new capacity installations to the U.S. electricity grid this year.  Proponents of clean energy celebrated the milestone for solar power as the world moves to increase electricity production to meet the needs of energy-hungry data centers to support the growth of artificial intelligence, and address escalating of global climate impacts.   “There’s substantial agreement that in order to do that, we have to have enough electricity, and there are facts that show that the fastest way to do that and the cheapest way to do that is through the deployment of solar and storage,” Abigail Ross Hopper, president and chief executive of the solar association, said in an interview at CERAWeek.