U.S. Solar Manufacturing Soars to 31 GW, Driven by the Inflation Reduction Act

The United States’ solar module manufacturing capacity has surpassed 31 gigawatts (GW), marking a nearly four-fold increase since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was enacted in 2022.

The U.S. Solar Market Insight Q3 2024 report, released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, highlights the ongoing impact of federal clean energy policies. In Q2 2024 alone, the industry installed 9.4 GW of new electric generation capacity.

In just two years under the IRA, the solar sector has added 75 GW of new capacity to the grid, accounting for over 36% of all solar capacity ever built in the U.S. Since the IRA’s passage, nearly 1.5 million American homes have installed solar. “The solar and storage industry is turning federal clean energy policies into action by rapidly creating jobs and powering economic growth in all 50 states, particularly in battleground states like Arizona, Nevada and Georgia,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “We are now manufacturing historic amounts of solar energy in America, and soon, we will have enough domestic module production to supply nearly all U.S. demand for years to come.”

“The solar industry had a great second quarter, mostly due to growth in the utility-scale segment,” said Michelle Davis, head of global solar at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report. “But future solar growth is being hindered by broader power sector challenges – interconnection backlogs, electrical equipment shortages, and constraints on labor availability. The industry also faces uncertainty related to newly proposed tariffs and the presidential election. There is currently a lot to navigate in the solar industry.”