The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has published its 2024 state-level data for energy generation, and the results show steady growth for utility-scale solar energy in Washington. According to the EIA’s Electricity Data Browser, the net solar generation in 2024 from Washington plants was 436 thousand megawatt hours (MWh). Although still a minor player in electricity generation in Washington, utility-scale solar showed an increase of about 20% over the 2023. The 2024 increase continues a steady climb of utility scale solar in Washington since 2021 when net generation of utility solar topped out at only 50 thousand MwH.
The 2024 EIA data is preliminary and includes only utility-scale solar projects of at least 1 MW nameplate capacity. The data does not include residential solar and certain other types of distributed solar energy, including smaller community and industrial solar projects. The EIA, which is a division within the U.S. Department of Energy, sources its data from reporting requirements imposed upon utilities and facility owners on a monthly and annual basis. EIA will
true-up the 2024 numbers by the fall of 2025.
The annual EIA figures show that utility-scale solar remains a minor contributor to Washington’s overall electricity generation mix. The state’s wind power facilities yield about nineteen times the generation output of solar power. The 2024 results are shown below:
Net Generation of Electric Power by Source – Washington (2024)(measured in thousand MWh) |
||
| All Fuels |
99.702 |
100% |
| Conventional hydroelectric |
60,454 |
60.6% |
| Natural gas |
17,081 |
17.1% |
| Nuclear |
9,967 |
10.0% |
| Wind |
8,421 |
8.4% |
| Coal |
2,025 |
2.0% |
| Utility-scale solar |
436 |
0.4% |
| Other Sources |
1,318 |
1.3% |
|
Source: Energy Information Administration, Electricity Data Brower. |
||
Several facts stand out from the 2024 EIA report. First, Washington’s wind generation is material and steady, but is established and growing at a slower pace than solar. The net wind generation in 2024 (8,421 thousand MWh) was up 11.5% from 2023 (8,023 thousand MWh), but only up 5% from 2022 (8,061 thousand MWh). Wind generation in 2024 was actually down 9% from the 2022 peak of 9,298 thousand MWh.
Second, the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) will place limits on growth of non-renewable energy, which should make solar a more attractive choice for future development. As explained by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, CETA will disallow coal-fired electricity by the end of 2025. For a summary of CETA time goals, see CETA, a Brief Overview, at UTC website.
In addition, CETA requires all electricity delivered to Washington consumers to be greenhouse gas (GHG) neutral by 2035, and to be non-GHG emitting or fully renewable by 2045. On a national level, EIA projects 63 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity coming online in 2025, an increase of 30% over 2024, with most of this capacity increase due to solar (U.S. Energy Information Administration, Office of Energy Statistics, “Solar, Battery Storage to Lead New US Generating Capacity Additions in 2025,” Feb. 24, 2025.) Thus, solar and battery storage together are projected to account for about 81% of the new capacity for 2025. Solar alone is about half of this total, or 32.5 GW for 2025. New plants in Texas and California will account for just under half of the 32.5 GW of new solar capacity in 2025, with five other states (Indiana, Arizona, Michigan, Florida and New York) contributing over 1 GW each.
As for Washington, there is limited state-level data on projected utility-scale solar projects in Washington. The EIA data does not record projected new Washington sites in 2025, but includes several for 2026 and beyond. Another data point for Washington is the list of solar projects seeking permits from the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC). The EFSEC project list adds up to about 1 GW of additional solar generating capacity, assuming that all projects will be permitted and built as proposed.
Finally, as a comparison, it is interesting to consider the case of Oregon. For utility scale power, the energy mix of Washington and Oregon is very similar. Oregon has a heavy reliance on hydro power, natural gas and wind, which together account for 95% of the state’s net electricity generation, as shown in the table below:
Net Generation of Electric Power by Source – Oregon (2024)(measured in thousand MWh) |
||
| All Fuels |
62,467 |
100% |
| Conventional hydroelectric |
26,144 |
41.8% |
| Natural gas |
24,144
|
38.6% |
| Nuclear |
-- |
-- |
| Wind |
9,580 |
15.3% |
| Coal | -- | -- |
| Utility-scale solar |
2,076 |
3.3% |
| Other Sources |
527 |
0.8% |
|
Source: Energy Information Administration, Electricity Data Brower. |
||
However, one clear difference is the amount of solar. While Oregon’s utility-scale solar generation is only 3.3% of its total generation in 2024, this figure is still about 4 to 5 times the output from Washington. Oregon has seven large solar projects in excess of 40 MW, while also being home to approximately 30 community and distributed solar facilities in the 1 to 3 MW capacity range. 3
More about Electric Power in Oregon:
- See Cleanview Energy map of largest solar plants in Oregon. https://cleanview.co/solar-farms/oregon.
- For community solar figures, see Project Finder maintained by Oregon Community Solar Program. https://www.oregoncsp.org/projectfinder/.
- For Oregon energy production figures, see OR Dept. of Energy, Oregon Solar Dashboard. https://www.oregon.gov/energy/energy-oregon/Pages/Oregon-Solar-Dashboard.aspx
We will explore the differences between Washington and Oregon solar policies in future editions of the newsletter.
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