The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its September Electric Power Monthly, which includes data through July 2024.

Solar generation has increased by nearly 26% year over year, with a 1% rise in electricity consumption in July 2024 compared to July 2023 and a 4.5% increase in electricity generation from January to July 2024, while residential electricity prices have climbed 4.6%.

Nationally, solar has seen a steady increase, now accounting for 6.22% of all electricity generated over the past 12 months, as shown in PV Intel’s national solar data summary. This represents a 20% increase from the previous year when solar constituted 5.16% of all electricity.

The EIA reports small-scale solar generation grew from 7.7 TWh in July 2023 to 8.8 TWh in July 2024, a 13.9% increase. Utility-scale solar grew 23.3%, from 26.2 TWh to 32.3 TWh. While solid, these gains are lower than year-to-date increases of 16.8% for small-scale and 29.7% for utility-scale solar, contributing to an overall 25.8% rise in solar output.

Electricity generation in July rose 1% compared to last year, while year-to-date generation increased 4.5%, adding 109 TWh. This growth outpaced solar’s increase of 36 TWh.

Typically, June and July are the peak months for solar electricity in absolute terms. However, as a percentage, solar generation peaked in May 2024 at 8.53% of total generation. The same month also saw the highest percentage of emission-free electricity generation for the year at 47.94%.