MenuIn Q1 2024, 11 gigawatts of solar module manufacturing capacity were activated in the United States. This represents a 71% increase, making it the largest quarterly capacity increase in American history. That is enough electricity to power 8.2 million homes.
Amidst such good news, it is easy to ignore the looming problems associated with American solar energy. It risks becoming a victim of its own uneven success. The increase in productive capacity is not being matched by advances in batteries, grid modernization, distribution, decentralization, storage, or baseload. If U.S. solar energy production continues its climb upward, buoyed by the Inflation Reduction Act without innovation in these interconnected sectors, the industry risks creating a solar energy bubble in which electricity generation and panel production and installation cannot be effectively utilized. It will take years of innovation in battery and solar technology to contend with these limitations and seamlessly integrate solar into the country’s energy portfolio.