Renewable energy produced more than a quarter of U.S. electricity in 2025 and was responsible for more than a third of newly installed generating capacity, according to a review of U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data by the SUN DAY Campaign. SUN DAY expects solar, wind and battery energy storage systems to add 60% more electricity to the grid this year than in 2025.
A solar installer stands next to an assembled row of single-axis solar trackers. SOLV Energy
These findings come from EIA’s latest “Electricity monthlyreports with data through the end of 2025. Utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic deployment increased 34.5% in 2025, while small-scale PV projects increased 11%. This maintains solar’s position as the fastest-growing source of new electricity in the United States.
Combined, solar produced just under 9.0% of total U.S. electricity generation last year – down from 6.9% in 2024, and accounts for more than a third of the grid’s renewable energy capacity. By 2025, utility-scale solar capacity grew by 27.7 GW, while small-scale solar capacity grew by 6.27 GW. EIA estimates that an additional 44.47 GW of large-scale solar will be built by 2026.
Wind and solar power together accounted for nearly a fifth of total U.S. electricity generation, surpassing coal and nuclear capacity. In 2025, the two energy sources supplied 15.7% more electricity than coal and 8.7% more than nuclear energy.
Renewables are the second largest source of electricity on the U.S. grid, behind natural gas, whose electricity production fell 3.3% in 2025.
Utility-scale BESS grew by 58.4% and added 15.77 GW of new capacity. EIA expects BESS capacity to grow by a further 24.26 GW by 2026.
EIA predicts that new capacity additions from solar, wind and batteries in 2026 will be 62% more than in 2025.
By comparison, natural gas capacity increased by 5.7 GW, nuclear added 60.3 MW, and coal and oil capacity decreased by 4.4 GW and 559.4 MW, respectively.
“Dramatic growth from solar, wind and battery storage is the key takeaway from the EIA data for 2025,” said Ken Bossong, executive director of SUN DAY. “And if EIA’s 2026 projections prove correct, to paraphrase Al Jolson, ‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’”
News item from the SUN DAY campaign
