Utility-scale solar installations grew at an average rate of 72% per year between 2010 and 2016, faster than any other generating technologies, the Energy Information Administration reported on May 4.
Utility-scale solar installations include both photovoltaic and thermal technologies, EIA noted in its latest “Today in Energy” report.
The agency said that utility-scale solar generation now makes up about 2% of all utility-scale electric generation. “The first utility-scale solar plants were installed in the mid-1980s, but more than half of the currently operating utility-scale solar capacity came online in the past two years,” it said.
