@misc{36377,
  author = {Will Gorman and Joseph Rand and Nick Manderlink and Anna Cheyette and Mark Bolinger and Joachim Seel and Seongeun Jeong and Ryan H Wiser},
  title = {Hybrid Power Plants: Status of Operating and Proposed Plants, 2024 Edition},
  abstract = {<p>Improving battery technology and the growth of variable renewable generation are driving a surge of interest in “hybrid” power plants that combine, for example, wind or solar generating capacity with co-located batteries. While most of the current interest involves pairing photovoltaic (PV) plants with batteries, other types of hybrid or co-located plants with wide-ranging configurations have been part of the U.S. electricity mix for decades.</p><p>This annually updated briefing tracks and maps existing hybrid or co-located plants across the United States while also synthesizing data from power purchase agreements (PPAs) and generation interconnection queues to shed light on near- and long-term development pipelines. The scope includes “co-located hybrids” that pair two or more resources (e.g., multiple types of generation and/or generation with storage) that are operated largely independently behind a single point of interconnection, and “full hybrids” that also feature coordinated operations of the co-located resources. The focus is on plants with one megawatt (MW) or more of capacity; smaller (often behind-the-meter) projects are also increasingly common, but are not included in this data synthesis.</p><p>Key findings from the latest briefing include:</p><ul><li>At the end of 2023, there were 469 hybrid plants (&gt;1 MW) operating across the United States (+21% compared to the end of 2022), totaling nearly 49 GW of generating capacity (+19%) and 3.6 GW/11.1 GWh of energy storage (+59%/+67%). PV+storage plants are by far the most common, dominating in terms of plant number (288), storage capacity (7.8 GW/24.2 GWh), storage:generator capacity ratio (54%), and storage duration (3.1 hours).&nbsp; But there are nearly twenty other hybrid plant configurations as well, including several different fossil hybrid categories (each dominated by the fossil component) as well as wind+storage, wind+PV, wind+PV+storage, geothermal+PV, and others.</li><li>Last year was another strong year for PV+storage hybrids in particular: 66 of the 80 hybrids added in 2023 were PV+storage. As of the end of 2023, there was roughly as much storage capacity operating within PV+storage hybrid plants as in standalone storage plants (~7.5 GW each). In storage energy terms, however, PV+storage edged out standalone storage by ~7 GWh (24.2 GWh vs. 17.5 GWh, respectively).</li><li>Interconnection queue data show continued strong developer interest in hybridization. At the close of 2023, there were 18% more hybrid plants—representing 33% more generating capacity—in interconnection queues across the United States than there were at the end of 2022. Solar dominates these proposed plants as well: at the close of 2023, there were 599 GW of solar capacity proposed as a hybrid (representing ~55% of all solar capacity in the queues), most typically pairing PV with battery storage. At the same time, there were 51 GW of wind capacity proposed as a hybrid (representing ~14% of all wind capacity in the queues), again most-often pairing wind with storage. Meanwhile, more than half of all storage in the queues is estimated to be part of a hybrid plant. While many of the plants proposed in the queues will not ultimately reach commercial operations, the depth of interest in hybrid plants—especially PV+storage—is notable, particularly in certain regions. For example, in CAISO, 98% of all solar capacity and 34% of all wind capacity in the queues is proposed as a hybrid.</li><li>The report also surveys power purchase agreement (PPA) price data from a sample of operating and proposed PV+storage plants. PV+storage PPA prices have begun to increase, and “levelized storage adders” have recently increased as well to ~$10000/MW-month, ~$80/MWh-stored (assuming one full cycle per day), or ~$35/MWh-PV. Some of the recent price increase could simply reflect a trend towards higher battery:PV capacity ratios on the mainland over time (whereas this ratio is typically pegged at 1 to 1 in Hawaii), which will increase costs, all else being equal. The well-publicized impact of inflationary and supply chain pressures on prices in 2022 could also be a short-term contributor, though battery prices have more recently hit all-time lows.</li></ul><p>For further details on these and other findings, please refer to the short PowerPoint-style briefing, which can be downloaded&nbsp;<a href="https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-09/hybrid_plant_tracking_2024_v3.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp;The briefing is accompanied by two data visualizations, one focused on&nbsp;<a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/online-hybrid-and-energy-storage-projects">online plants</a>&nbsp;and the other on those in&nbsp;<a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/generation-storage-and-hybrid-capacity">interconnection queues</a>, as well as an&nbsp;<a href="https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-09/hybrid_plant_tracking_2024_data_workbook.xlsx">Excel data file</a>&nbsp;with details on individual plants.</p>},
  year = {2024},
  month = {09/2024},
  note = {<p>Note: Readers interested in hybrids might also find this other&nbsp;<a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/batteries-included-top-10-findings">short briefing</a>&nbsp;to be of interest, as it summarizes the top ten key findings from hybrid-related research conducted by our group through 2021.</p>},
}