According to the latest monthly report by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the nation added 1.03 GW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 167 utility-scale PV plants in the first ten months of 2012.

FERC's October 2012 "Energy Infrastructure Update" shows that this represented 6.8% of all new electricity generation capacity added during the 10-month period, with new wind adding another 36%. This represents a 71% increase over the 602 MW added in 200 new PV plants in the first ten months of 2011.

Utility-scale PV reached 0.3% of generating capacity

FERC puts total installed utility-scale PV capacity at 3.49 GW, or 0.30% of total U.S. generation capacity. Actual output is a different figure, and it is worth noting that this figure does not include smaller PV plants such as residential installations.

The agency also notes that 1,920 km of transmission projects were completed during the period, with another 18,500 km having a "high probability of completion" by October 2014. The largest single share of completed transmission was in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council grid, which encompasses the entire Western United States.

2012-12-07 | Courtesy: FERC; Image: First Solar | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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