The Case for Utility Scale Solar

Hello! This is John Smillie, the League’s climate committee chair, filling in for our usual columnist Maria Reynolds-Weir. They say to write what you know, so I’m here to present the case for utility-scale solar power.

Solar deployment has grown feverishly across the globe for the past decade, topping 605 gigawatts (GW) of deployment in 2025. The United States is no exception to this, and in fact solar, along with wind and batteries, is expected to dominate 2026 deployments. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. is expected to add 86GW of generation capacity in 2026, and 51% of that will be solar. (For reference, the entire U.S. generation capacity is a bit less than 1400GW.) Wind and batteries add another 42%, making the clean-power total 93% of new grid additions.

So, what is driving solar’s dominance, and why is it worth embracing?

1. Solar is Cheap!
   
   Utility-scale solar is the cheapest form of electrical generation in history, having rapidly declined in cost over the past two decades to come in at $58 per MWh (a typical US household consumes 10-11MWh annually). This is just below onshore wind ($61), and well below gas ($78), coal ($122), and nuclear ($180).
2. Solar is Fast!
   An average solar farm takes 1.4 years to build. Wind and batteries are not far behind at 1.7 years, while gas can take 4 years (longer now with turbine backlogs), coal can take 6.7, and nuclear up to 15.
3. Batteries enable solar to go further than ever before.

At the dawn of the 2020s, grid-scale batteries barely existed. Last year, 112GW were deployed globally. California’s capacity alone is over 13.8GW, allowing them to cover 44% of their generation at the daily peak. This has allowed them to move their cheap and abundant solar from midday to evening, when demand is highest, and crushed the usage of the dirtiest gas “peaker” plants.

Though California is leading the charge for grid batteries in the U.S., they are coming to Indiana, as well. The Indiana Municipal Power Authority (IMPA) just launched a 6 megawatt battery project in Richmond, Indiana. Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power is an IMPA utility with 28MW of locally owned solar power. A local battery project could go a long way toward reducing power procurement costs by shifting our cheap solar to the most expensive times of day.

4. Solar is low carbon.

For me, the single biggest reason to embrace solar is to displace the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere and drives climate change, exacerbating heat waves, sea level rise, extreme precipitation events, and wildfires.

Most analyses put the full lifecycle emissions of solar at around 40 grams of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which reduces emissions by an order of magnitude when compared to gas (450g/kWh), and even more compared to coal (900/kWh). Wind and nuclear are often calculated to be cleaner (~10g/kWh), but as efficiencies are improved and fossil fuels are displaced up and down the supply chain, all three have the potential to get below 6g/kWh.

5. Solar is emissions-free.

Not only does displacing fossil fuels with solar reduce CO_2, but it also eliminates all other emissions at the generation site. Burning fuel releases particulates, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and – mostly in the case of coal – even heavy metal pollution that damage human health, natural landscapes, and crop yields. Annual early deaths linked to fossil fuel pollution total 91,000 in the U.S., and air pollution is linked to childhood asthma, heart disease, lung disease, and even depression, dementia, and vision loss. If we stop burning stuff and embrace emissions-free energy like solar, we can enjoy longer, healthier lives and clearer skies.

6. Solar is also fuel-free.

Once a solar panel is installed, it will continue to deliver electricity as long as the sun shines on it for decades. There are no shipping lanes, freight trains, pipelines, Straits of Hormuz, mines to keep digging, or wells to keep drilling. This provides a measure of security that insulates energy prices from geopolitics, international markets, and natural disasters.

Solar has a lot going for it. It’s not hard to see why it is by far the leading form of new electricity generation. Indiana was even a solar leader in 2025, adding 3GW of new capacity, behind only our 2 largest states (California and Texas). We still have a long way to go, though, as our coal and gas heavy grid is among the ten dirtiest. I look forward to seeing us embrace solar and other emissions-free technologies on our way to a healthier, more prosperous, more energy-secure state.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, multi-issue political organization which encourages informed and active participation in government. For information about the League, visit the website www.lwvmontcoin.org; or, visit the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Indiana Facebook page.