HIGHLIGHTS
- AT MID-YEAR, EIA DATA SHOW ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION BY RENEWABLES GREW 11% AS THEY GENERATED OVER 30% OF THE U.S. TOTAL
- DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS, UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR CAPACITY TRIPLED, BATTERIES GREW 20-FOLD & WIND EXPANDED 33%
- RENEWABLE CAPACITY IS NOW POISED TO SURPASS GAS WITHIN THE COMING YEAR AS NEW RENEWABLES AND BATTERY STORAGE CAPACITY GROW BY 83-GW
New data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign, reveal growth of almost 11% in electrical generation by renewable energy sources in the first half of 2026. Moreover, renewables and battery storage are projected to add about 82.9 gigawatts (GW) of new generating capacity in the U.S. by June 30, 2027 while total fossil fuel and nuclear power capacity will fall by almost 3.1-GW.
Over the last five years, installed utility-scale (i.e., >1 megawatt (MW)) solar capacity has tripled while small-scale solar (i.e., <1-MW) has more than doubled. Wind capacity has increased by nearly a third and utility-scale battery storage capacity has ballooned by almost 20-fold.
Electrical generation by renewables sources grew almost 11% and was more than 30% of the U.S. total in the first half of 2026.
According to the EIA's latest "Electric Power Monthly" report (with data through June 30, 2026), renewably-generated electricity during the first half of 2026 was 10.9% greater than in the same period of 2025. The growth was led by utility-scale solar (up 21.6%), small-scale solar (up 13.0%), hydropower (up 10.1%), and wind (up 6.5%). [1]
By comparison, the electrical output of the nation's nuclear power and natural gas plants experienced much slower growth - just 1.7% and 1.8% respectively. Electricity produced by U.S. coal facilities fell by 11.3%.
The combination of just wind and solar, including small-scale solar, provided 22.3% of domestic electrical production. In June alone, solar-generated electricity was greater than that of either wind or hydropower, making it the leading renewable energy source for the month.
During the first half of this year, wind and solar combined produced 58% more electricity than the nation's coal plants and 28% more than its nuclear reactors. [2]
The mix of all renewables, including biomass and geothermal, accounted for 30.2% of total U.S. electrical generation during the first half of 2026 - up from 27.8% a year earlier.
Over the past year, renewable energy capacity increased by almost 45,000-MW.
Between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, the installed capacity of utility-scale solar increased by 28,076.7-MW while that of small-scale solar and wind grew by 6,492.0-MW and 10,552.9-MW (including 800-MW of offshore wind) respectively. The combined capacity of all renewable energy sources - including hydropower, biomass, and geothermal - expanded by 44,889.3-MW.
In addition, utility-scale battery energy storage capacity increased by 17,858.8-MW. [3]
By comparison, coal capacity fell by 3,993.6-MW as nuclear dropped by 28.2-MW. However, natural gas capacity rose by 7,529.8-MW.
Over the past decade, renewably-generated electricity has grown rapidly as solar capacity increased nine-fold and wind capacity more than doubled.
As of mid-year, renewable energy's share of U.S. electrical generation is nearly double that of a decade ago: 30.2% in 2026 vs. 16.9% at the end of June 2016. Solar then accounted for 1.3% of the total while wind provide another 6.0%.
Five years later, renewable's share of total electrical production had risen to 22.4%. Solar's share had increased to 4.1% while wind had risen to 9.6%.
The growth of solar and wind-generated electricity over the past decade was made possible by the expanding generating capacity of both sources.
Since mid-year 2016, installed solar capacity has increased more than nine-fold with utility-scale capacity over 11 times greater and small-scale systems up more than six-fold.
In just the past five years, the combined capacity of utility-scale and small-scale solar has almost tripled (up 274%).
Meanwhile, over the last five years, wind energy generating capacity has increased by nearly a third (32.7%). During the past decade, it more than doubled.
Moreover, installed utility-scale battery energy storage systems went from being too little for EIA to even report in 2016 to 2,651.5-MW by mid-2021 to 51,665.7-MW at the end of June 2026 - a nearly 20-fold increase in five years.
Utility-scale renewable energy to add over 54-GW of new capacity in the coming year.
The rapid growth experienced by renewables during the past ten years is projected to continue, if not accelerate, in the coming year.
As of June 30, 2026, renewable energy's share of total U.S. utility-scale generating capacity was 34.3%. EIA projects this to grow to 37.1% by June 30, 2027. Utility-scale solar will add 43,649.2-MW thereby expanding its share from 13.3% to 16.2% while wind will grow by 10,216.8-MW (including 4,165.0-MW of offshore wind), increasing from 13.4% to 13.6%. The mix of other renewables (i.e., hydropower, biomass, and geothermal) will add 259.7-MW.
The combined net capacity growth of all utility-scale renewable energy sources for the 12-month period (54,125.7-MW) is 41% more than that added during the previous 12 months (38,397.3-MW).
Meanwhile, EIA projects no new generating capacity by nuclear power and a net decline of 3,143.4-MW in fossil fuel capacity. [4]
With the inclusion of new small-scale solar, renewables' capacity is likely to surpass natural gas by summer 2027 - or sooner.
The figures cited above do not include small-scale solar. [5] The estimated capacity of small-scale solar systems grew by 6,492.0-MW during the last year, bringing its total to 62,364.7-MW. EIA does not provide a forecast for the next 12 months for small-scale solar capacity growth but the SUN DAY Campaign assumes it will roughly equal the 6,400-MW that have been added on average during each of the past five years. Therefore, it is conservatively assumed that an additional 6,000-MW or more will come on-line in the coming year. [6]
If small-scale solar does increase by approximately 6,000-MW by July 1, 2027, it will bring renewable energy's installed capacity up to about 546,219.4-MW. By comparison, natural gas' generating capacity would total 518,286.3-MW.
Solar power's share alone would be more than one-fifth (20.4%) of total U.S. generating capacity.
Battery energy storage is projected to increase by almost 44% by next July:
EIA foresees battery energy storage adding another 22,788.4-MW by July 1, 2027 - an increase of over 44%, bringing the total up to 74,454.1-MW.
Thus, the combination of utility-scale renewable energy sources and battery energy storage will provide 76,914.1-MW of new clean energy capacity by early summer 2027. With the inclusion of small-scale solar, that figure could rise close to, or surpass, 83,000-MW.
"Renewable energy - led by solar and wind - has been setting growth records for at least the past decade," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "And, notwithstanding the roadblocks set up by the Trump Administration, all signs indicate that its growth is poised to expand even faster in the coming year."
Sources:
EIA released its latest "Electric Power Monthly" report, with data through June 30, 2026, on August 25, 2026. The full report can be found at: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly
For the data cited in this release, see:
Table ES1.A ("Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, 2026 and 2025");
Table ES1.B ("Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, Year-to-Date 2026 and 2025");
Table 1.1.A ("Net Generation from Renewable Sources"); and
Table 6.1 ("Electric Generating Summer Capacity Changes (MW), May 2026 to June 2026").
Comparable data can be found in the corresponding tables for June 2016 and June 2021 at:
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/archive/august2016.pdf and https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/archive/august2021.pdf
Notes:
[1] In January-June 2026, wind produced 268,541 gigawatt-hours (GWh) - 12.1% of total U.S. electrical generation - while utility-scale and small-scale solar combined produced 227,434-GWh (10.2%), hydropower produced 146,250-GWh (6.6%), biomass produced 22,003-GWh (1.0%), and geothermal produced 7,783-GWh (0.35%).
[2] In January-June 2026, the mix of wind and solar, including small-scale solar, produced 495,975-GWh while nuclear power generated 388,891-GWh and coal provided 313,679-GWh. In June 2026 alone, utility-scale and small-scale solar generated 49,648-GWh. Coal generated 56,290-GWh while wind generated 41,888-GWh and hydropower generated 23,725-GWh. Solar and wind combined generated 91,536-GWh. Nuclear power generated 68,786-GWh.
[3] EIA presents its capacity data as "summer capacity" defined as the maximum output that generating equipment can supply to system load at the time of summer peak demand. See Table 6.1 in the "Electric Power Monthly" report.
[4] Capacity factors for fossil fuels and nuclear power are generally higher than for solar and wind. For calendar year 2025, EIA reported capacity factors of 48.7%, 58.4%, and 91.0% for coal, natural gas, and nuclear power respectively. By comparison, the capacity factors for wind and utility-scale PV were 34.2% and 24.4% respectively. See Tables 6.07.A and 6.07.B. Capacity factors for small-scale solar systems (10%-25%.) are usually lower than for utility-scale solar.
[5] In its "Electric Power Monthly" report, EIA refers to small-scale or distributed solar as "Estimated Small Scale Solar Photovoltaic." Unless otherwise indicated, all calculations presented in this release include electrical generation by small-scale solar which EIA estimates to have totaled 52,697-GWh in January-June 2026. Utility-scale solar totaled 174,736-GWh for the same period.
[6] Between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, estimated small-scale solar accounted for 6,492.0-MW in new capacity additions. The SUN DAY Campaign is therefore assuming that at least 6,000-MW in new small-scale solar capacity will be added during the coming 12 months.
The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1992 to support a rapid transition to 100% reliance on sustainable energy technologies as a cost-effective alternative to nuclear power and fossil fuels and as a solution to climate change.
