Where does that leave the grid? Despite a slight decline, natural gas continues to dominate, contributing 39 percent of the capacity placed on the grid in the first half of 2025. Nuclear follows at 18 percent, and coal is at 17. Renewables include wind (12 percent), solar (7 percent), and hydro (6 percent). (Numbers may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding and the fact that several energy sources have less than one percent and are not included here.)
Renewable energy sources are booming
Those latter numbers could be significant, as hydropower tends to peak in the spring during snowmelt. In contrast, as additional solar plants come online throughout the year, there’s a good chance that grid-scale solar will generate more electricity than hydropower for the first time in 2025. That’s especially notable because hydropower generation is largely the same as it was a year ago, suggesting it’s being outpaced by solar alone.
Together, the three renewable energy sources provided 25 percent of U.S. electricity in the first half of the year. That means renewables are now second only to natural gas. If you add nuclear power to get a sense of emissions-free generation, we’re now up to 43 percent of electricity generated.
Despite the increase in coal use, the combination of wind and solar remains comfortably ahead.
John Timmer
Despite the increase in coal use, the combination of wind and solar remains comfortably ahead.
John Timmer
Gas is still the largest single source of generation, but there are now six different electron sources that make the main contributions.
John Timmer
Gas is still the largest single source of generation, but there are now six different electron sources that make the main contributions.
John Timmer
Despite the increase in coal use, the combination of wind and solar remains comfortably ahead.
John Timmer
Gas is still the largest single source of generation, but there are now six different electron sources that make the main contributions.
John Timmer
The only thing missing from this analysis is rooftop solar generation, which is found on residential and commercial buildings, as well as some small-scale community solar. The EIA doesn’t track its production directly, in part because much of it is used where it’s produced and never ends up on the grid, instead showing up simply as lower demand. It does, however, estimate its production as having grown by about 11 percent, or five TW-HR, compared to the previous year.
We also ran a couple of additional analyses using these calculations, assuming that 100 percent of this power did not reach the grid and thus shifted demand. A change of five TW-HR compares to an increase in total consumption of about 62 TW-HR. This means that demand would have increased by about seven percent more if this solar power had not been produced.
