Taming wind and solar resources: Smart inverters are key [Editor's voice]

Abstract

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted that the U.S. power grid will host more than 56.1 GW of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity during 2023, the largest amount of added capacity since 2002. However, behind this headline, the real news is that in 2023 more than half (52%) of the capacity additions will be solar, followed by battery storage at 17%. The case of storage is interesting. In 2023, the U.S. battery capacity more than doubled in sized compared to 2022. Yet, the EIA has forecasted that it will likely be doubled in size in 2024, to reach about 30 GW in capacity.