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The US built more utility-scale solar power plants in 2020 than any other year, adding 9.6 gigawatts of renewable energy and bringing the nation’s total solar capacity to 48 gigawatts. The pandemic slowdown only put a minor break on the momentum created by a federal tax credit, due to end in 2020, that has now been extended to 2024. If not for the pandemic, the numbers would have been even higher, says the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In 2020, Texas installed enough solar panels to generate 2.5 gigawatts of electricity under full sun, while Florida and California each built 1.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar.
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