According to a report released by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) on February 16, 2023, the U.S. wind, solar, and battery storage sectors installed a total of 9.6 GW of utility-scale capacity in Q4 2022.[1] The report, titled Clean Power Quarterly Market Report- Q4 2022, found that issues such as supply chain constraints, delays connecting projects to the grid, unclear trade restrictions, permitting obstacles, and uncertainty regarding the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) slowed project development in 2022. Although Q4 was the best quarter of 2022, it was the lowest fourth quarter for utility-scale clean energy installations since 2019, down 21% from 2021. Annual installations were also below both 2021 and 2020 levels, down 16% and 12%, respectively.
The U.S. added more than 21 GW of wind and solar energy in 2022, below 2021 and 2020 levels. Battery storage had a record year, adding 4 GW of capacity in 2022, surpassing the 3 GW record set in 2021. Land-based wind saw the largest decrease in installations in 2022, with 37% less than in 2021. The report states that this decrease was expected, largely due to the declining value of the production tax credit for wind. The report highlighted that the clean power development pipeline had reached a new high, due in part to the IRA, with 13% more capacity in development queues since Q4 2021 and 135 GW of clean power projects in the late stages of development.