The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects about 25 GW of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to have been added to the power grid during 2017, nearly half of which use renewable technologies, especially wind and solar. Another 3.5 GW of small-scale solar net capacity additions are estimated to have come online in 2017. In March, for the first time monthly electricity generation from wind and solar (including utility-scale plants and small-scale systems) exceeded 10 percent of total electricity generation in the United States. In early spring, California’s total solar share of gross electricity demand exceeded 50 percent during the mid-day hours, resulting in negative pricing.

After increasing by 13 percent in 2017, EIA expects total generation from renewables in all sectors (including utility- and small-scale generators) to decrease by 3 percent in 2018 and then to increase by 7 percent in 2019. EIA estimates that total U.S. small-scale solar capacity was 16 GW at the end of 2017, and expects that capacity to be 19 GW at the end of 2018 and 23 GW at the end of 2019.

EIA estimates that U.S. large-scale solar capacity totaled 27 GW at the end of 2017 and forecasts by the end of 2018 that capacity will rise to 30 GW. By the end of 2019, large-scale solar capacity is forecast to be 42 GW. In 2019 the average generation share is about 1.7 percent of total generation.