EIA: 99%+ of new US capacity in 2026 will be solar, wind + storage

[douglas9]

EIA’s latest monthly “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through November 30, 2025), once again confirms that solar is the fastest-growing among the major sources of US electricity.

In November alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (>1 megawatt (MW)) expanded by 33.9% compared to November 2024, while “estimated” small-scale (eg, rooftop) solar PV increased by 11.0%. Combined, they grew by 27.5% and provided 7.2% of US electrical output during the month, up from 5.9% a year ago.

Moreover, utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 34.5% while that from small-scale systems rose by 11.3% during the first 11 months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by 28.1% and produced a bit under 9.0% (utility-scale: 6.74%; small-scale: 2.13%) of total US electrical generation for January to November, up from 7.1% a year earlier.

https://electrek.co/2026/01/28/eia-99-of-new-us-capacity-in-2026-will-be-solar-wind-storage/

[NNadir]

1. That is a disaster, pure and simple, if true. Unreliable capacity with a utilization of less than 25% is useless.

[quaint]

2. I'm pro everything that gives us more time to keep this planet habitable for humans.

[Woodwizard]

3. For the last 12 years 80 percent of our power

Has been solar. I still even have panels that are over 20 years old producing power. All on roof space that was just keeping my shop dry previously.

[thought crime]

4. We now have a technical and economic solution in hand.

Utility scale solar has low capital startup costs and low regulatory burden. A big capital cost is land but compared to other systems it is still low, and the payback in reduced costs and reduced carbon emissions is driving this growth. There will be a long transition, of course, but if the newer systems that generate hydrogen gain traction, fossil fuels can be eliminated entirely. Renewables are approaching a threshold beyond which there will be little to challenge them.

Offshore Wind is more capital intensive and must contend with some environmental objections and collision with fisheries, but the payback in energy capacity and carbon reduction is huge. If a full hydrogen economy can be developed then there could be many hydrogen exporting countries where offshore wind is chiefly used to generate hydrogen.