According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), more than 26 GW of utility-scale generation capacity will be installed during 2016, mainly from three energy sources: solar (9.5 GW), gas (8 GW) and wind (6.8 GW).
Solar installations are expected to triple compared to 2015 (3.1 GW) and would even exceed total installations over the 2013-2015 period (9.4 GW). California will concentrate a large part of new projects (3.9 GW), followed by North Carolina (1.1 GW), Nevada (0.9 GW), Texas (0.7 GW), and Georgia (0.7 GW).
Gas-fired capacity installations will remain in line with the 7.8 GW average over the previous five years, at 8 GW in 2016. Four states plan to add more than 1 GW of natural gas-fired capacity this year: Pennsylvania (1.6 GW), Virginia (1.4 GW), Florida (1.3 GW) and Texas (1.1 GW).
Wind installations are expected to slow down in 2016, from 8.1 GW in 2015 to 6.8 GW in 2016, with most additions in the Plains region between the Dakotas and Minnesota, south to Texas and eastern New Mexico.
In addition, Tennessee Valley Authority will commission its 1.1 GW Watts Bar 2 nuclear power project in southeastern Tennessee in June 2016. It will be the first new nuclear reactor brought online in the United States in 20 years.
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