Booming power demand is driving a scramble to arrange new producing capability, and one expertise is proving to be the clear winner. Newly launched federal information reveals that solar energy grew by greater than 35 p.c year-over-year in 2025, outpacing all different types of technology.
After many years of comparatively flat electrical energy use, US energy demand is rising once more. A brand new report from the US Power Data Administration reveals that consumption jumped 2.8 p.c in 2025, because of rising industrial exercise and the speedy enlargement of energy-hungry AI information facilities.
Whereas elevated fossil-fuel technology met a lot of that extra demand—a revival in coal, specifically—solar energy posted the quickest development of any main supply. In accordance with an evaluation by Ars Technica, the Power Data Administration information reveals US photo voltaic technology elevated by greater than 35 p.c year-over-year, pushed by 27 gigawatts of newly put in capability.
The surge pushed whole photo voltaic output above hydroelectric energy for the primary time by way of whole annual technology. Hydropower output itself was comparatively secure in contrast with the prior yr, whereas photo voltaic continued its latest breakneck enlargement, with capability rising quickly throughout a number of areas.
Photo voltaic’s surge, which added about 85 terawatt-hours of technology, met about two-thirds of the elevated power demand. This quantity rose to 73 p.c when mixed with wind energy, which grew by a extra modest 2.8 p.c.
However the information’s not-so-silver lining is that the remaining demand was met primarily by 13 p.c development in coal energy. That bucks the latest development of coal’s diminishing significance within the US energy provide and was pushed by a posh confluence of modifications within the US power system.
In earlier years, pure gasoline has been the go-to fossil gasoline as a result of ample home provide and the power to quickly ramp energy up and down. Nonetheless, the Trump administration’s tariff insurance policies have made it harder and costly to supply the gear for gasoline energy vegetation, and speedy enlargement in gasoline exports means home utilities are competing with overseas patrons for gasoline.
Altogether, this made gasoline technology a much less dependable wager, and technology truly shrank 3.3 p.c final yr. That made coal a extra engaging possibility, and its place within the US power combine grew.
Nonetheless, the outlook stays shiny for renewables, and photo voltaic specifically. A latest Power Data Administration evaluation confirmed roughly 43 gigawatts of utility-scale photo voltaic capability is deliberate or beneath building for 2026, probably making it a fair larger yr for photo voltaic than 2025. Greater than half of this new capability is in simply 4 states: Texas, Arizona, California, and Michigan.
And wind energy’s development may greater than double this yr with deliberate additions of 11.8 gigawatts, 60 p.c of that are in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, and Wyoming.
Progress in renewables can even be supported by one other record-breaking yr for added battery storage. Final yr, the business added a file 15 gigawatts of capability to the grid. Deliberate initiatives would develop capability by one other 24 gigawatts in 2026, 80 p.c of which will likely be in Texas, California, and Arizona.
It’ll be some time but earlier than inexperienced power overtakes fossil fuels, which nonetheless accounted for 58 p.c of whole technology in 2025. However the information suggests the power transition is effectively underway. If photo voltaic and wind proceed to satisfy rising power demand, the US power system may quickly look very completely different.
