Utility-Scale Solar, 2025 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory compiled and synthesized empirical data on the U.S. utility-scale solar sector. Utility-scale solar is defined here to include ground-mounted systems larger than 5MW-AC. Smaller projects are covered in Berkeley Lab's separate U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage annual data update. The focus is on utility-scale solar projects, though the "Wholesale Market Value" sections often contain data inclusive of all utility-scale solar installations. Data sources are diverse but include data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and state agencies. The latest update contains project-level data on 1,760 solar projects installed through 2024.
The update includes the resulting data synthesis covering:
(1) Deployment and Technology Trends
(2) Capital Costs (CapEx) and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Costs
(3) Performance (Capacity Factors)
(4) Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Prices
(5) Wholesale Market Value and Net Value
(6) PV+Battery Hybrid Plants (Deployment, CapEx, LCOE, PPAs)
(7) Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP) Plants
(8) Capacity in Interconnection Queues
These data are made available in several formats, including a summary slide deck, a public data file with non-confidential data on 57 tabs and additional visualizations, and data visualizations.
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory compiled and synthesized empirical data on the U.S. utility-scale solar sector. Utility-scale solar is defined here to include ground-mounted systems larger than 5MW-AC. Smaller projects are covered in Berkeley Lab's separate U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage annual data update. The focus is on utility-scale solar projects, though the "Wholesale Market Value" sections often contain data inclusive of all utility-scale solar installations. Data sources are diverse but include data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and state agencies. The latest update contains project-level data on 1,760 solar projects installed through 2024.
The update includes the resulting data synthesis covering:
(1) Deployment and Technology Trends
(2) Capital Costs (CapEx) and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Costs
(3) Performance (Capacity Factors)
(4) Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Prices
(5) Wholesale Market Value and Net Value
(6) PV+Battery Hybrid Plants (Deployment, CapEx, LCOE, PPAs)
(7) Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP) Plants
(8) Capacity in Interconnection Queues
These data are made available in several formats, including a summary slide deck, a public data file with non-confidential data on 57 tabs and additional visualizations, and data visualizations.
AU - Seel, Joachim
A2 - Mulvaney Kemp, Julie
A3 - Cheyette, Anna
A4 - Gorman, Will
A5 - Darghouth, Naim
A6 - Robson, Dana
A7 - Rand, Joseph
A8 - Jeong, Seongeun
DB - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP - Open EI | National Laboratory of the Rockies
DO -
KW - energy
KW - power
KW - solar
KW - Berkeley Lab
KW - capital costs
KW - capacity factors
KW - LCOE
KW - Power Purchase Agreements
KW - wholesale market value
KW - utility-scale solar
KW - PV
KW - battery
KW - operating costs
KW - interconnection queue
KW - market analysis
KW - hourly generation
KW - market value
KW - plant-level data
KW - PPA
KW - power purchase agreement
KW - capacity
KW - generation
KW - hourly
KW - CSP
KW - photovoltaic
KW - gound-mounted
KW - data
KW - plant-level
KW - solar power
KW - utility-scale
KW - solar energy
LA - English
DA - 2025/09/25
PY - 2025
PB - Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
T1 - Utility-Scale Solar, 2025 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC)
UR - https://data.openei.org/submissions/8541
ER -
Seel, Joachim, et al. Utility-Scale Solar, 2025 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC). Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 25 September, 2025, Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/8541.
Seel, J., Mulvaney Kemp, J., Cheyette, A., Gorman, W., Darghouth, N., Robson, D., Rand, J., & Jeong, S. (2025). Utility-Scale Solar, 2025 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC). [Data set]. Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. https://data.openei.org/submissions/8541
Seel, Joachim, Julie Mulvaney Kemp, Anna Cheyette, Will Gorman, Naim Darghouth, Dana Robson, Joseph Rand, and Seongeun Jeong. Utility-Scale Solar, 2025 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC). Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, September, 25, 2025. Distributed by Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/8541
@misc{OEDI_Dataset_8541,
title = {Utility-Scale Solar, 2025 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC)},
author = {Seel, Joachim and Mulvaney Kemp, Julie and Cheyette, Anna and Gorman, Will and Darghouth, Naim and Robson, Dana and Rand, Joseph and Jeong, Seongeun},
abstractNote = {Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory compiled and synthesized empirical data on the U.S. utility-scale solar sector. Utility-scale solar is defined here to include ground-mounted systems larger than 5MW-AC. Smaller projects are covered in Berkeley Lab's separate U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage annual data update. The focus is on utility-scale solar projects, though the "Wholesale Market Value" sections often contain data inclusive of all utility-scale solar installations. Data sources are diverse but include data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and state agencies. The latest update contains project-level data on 1,760 solar projects installed through 2024.
The update includes the resulting data synthesis covering:
(1) Deployment and Technology Trends
(2) Capital Costs (CapEx) and Operation \& Maintenance (O\&M) Costs
(3) Performance (Capacity Factors)
(4) Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Prices
(5) Wholesale Market Value and Net Value
(6) PV+Battery Hybrid Plants (Deployment, CapEx, LCOE, PPAs)
(7) Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP) Plants
(8) Capacity in Interconnection Queues
These data are made available in several formats, including a summary slide deck, a public data file with non-confidential data on 57 tabs and additional visualizations, and data visualizations.},
url = {https://data.openei.org/submissions/8541},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, https://data.openei.org/submissions/8541},
note = {Accessed: 2026-02-03}
}
Details
Data from Sep 25, 2025
Last updated Oct 17, 2025
Submitted Oct 14, 2025
Organization
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Contact
Joachim Seel
510.486.5087
Authors
Research Areas
Keywords
energy, power, solar, Berkeley Lab, capital costs, capacity factors, LCOE, Power Purchase Agreements, wholesale market value, utility-scale solar, PV, battery, operating costs, interconnection queue, market analysis, hourly generation, market value, plant-level data, PPA, power purchase agreement, capacity, generation, hourly, CSP, photovoltaic, gound-mounted, data, plant-level, solar power, utility-scale, solar energyDOE Project Details
Project Name Analysis of Solar Energy Markets 2.0
Project Number 52940
