SUN DAY CAMPAIGN
Solar + Wind Are 24% of U.S. Electrical Generating Capacity as Growth by Solar Dominates for the 27th Consecutive Month`

HIGHLIGHTS

• SOLAR AND WIND ARE NEARLY ONE-QUARTER OF U.S. GENERATING CAPACITY
• FOR 27 MONTHS STRAIGHT, SOLAR HAS PROVIDED MORE NEW GENERATING CAPACITY THAN ANY OTHER ENERGY SOURCE
• OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS, SOLAR + WIND PROJECTED TO ADD ANOTHER 106-GW

A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of new data released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reveals that new solar and wind capacity additions in November were the second highest in 2025 and accounted for 93% of that month's total. Solar continues to dominate new capacity additions and has held the lead among all energy sources for 27 consecutive months.

Solar was 72% of new generating capacity both in November and YTD:

In its latest monthly "Energy Infrastructure Update" report (with data through November 30, 2025 and released only nine days after its October report), FERC says 38 "units" of solar totaling 2,879 megawatts (MW) were placed into service in November, accounting for 72.3% of all new generating capacity added during the month. This was solar's second-largest monthly capacity increase during the year - behind only that added in January 2025.

The newest facilities include 13 that are 100-MW or larger in size with the biggest two being the 484.6-MW Parliament Solar Project in Waller County, TX; and the 256.3-MW Stampede Solar & Storage Expansion Project in Hopkins County, TX.

The 690 units of utility-scale (i.e., >1-MW) solar added during the first 11 months of 2025 total 25,467-MW - slightly less than the 27,668-MW added during the same period in 2024 - and were 72.1% of the total new capacity placed into service by all sources.

Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month for 27 months straight: September 2023 - November 2025. During that period, total utility-scale solar capacity grew from 91.82-GW to 163.44-GW. No other energy source added anything close to that amount of new capacity. Wind, for example, expanded by 13.20-GW while natural gas' net increase was just 6.83-GW. [1]

In terms of installed generating capacity, utility-scale solar is now nearly one-eighth (12.09%) of the nation's total. It has become the largest renewable energy source and is surpassed only by natural gas and coal. Further, solar is on track to surpass coal capacity before the end of 2026.

Wind capacity additions through November exceeded those of natural gas:

The 818-MW of new wind capacity additions in November were 20.6% of total new capacity and the second highest monthly increase for wind in 2025. By comparison, natural gas added just 283-MW. In fact, each of the four new wind farms that came on-line was larger than any of the 11 new natural gas projects.

Between January and November, wind provided 5,563-MW of new capacity additions - an increase of 71% compared to a year earlier and a third more than the new capacity provided by natural gas (4,179-MW). Wind thus accounted for 15.8% of all new capacity added during the first 11 months of 2025 and is now 11.9% of total U.S. installed generating capacity.

Renewables were 93% of new capacity in November and 88% of that added YTD:

Wind and solar combined were 92.9% of capacity additions in November. They now constitute nearly one-quarter (24.0%) of the nation's installed utility-scale generating capacity.

Year-to-date (YTD), wind and solar (joined by 4-MW of hydropower and 6-MW of biomass) accounted for 87.9% of all new generating capacity while natural gas added just 11.8%. The balance of net capacity additions came from oil (66-MW) and waste heat (17-MW).

Moreover, more than 25% of U.S. solar capacity is in the form of small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC's data. [2] Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than a quarter of the nation's total.

With the inclusion of hydropower (7.55%), biomass (1.05%) and geothermal (0.31%), renewables currently claim a 32.9% share of total U.S. utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables are now well more than one-third of total U.S. generating capacity.

Solar will probably be the second largest source of U.S. generating capacity in 2026:

FERC reports that net "high probability" net additions of solar between December 2025 and November 2028 total 86,130-MW - an amount more than four times the forecast net "high probability" additions for wind (19,821-MW), the second fastest growing resource.

FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (555-MW) and geothermal (102-MW) but a decrease of 116-MW in biomass capacity.

Meanwhile, natural gas capacity would expand by 10,022-MW and nuclear power would add just 335-MW, while coal and oil are projected to contract by 19,741-MW and 1,590-MW respectively.

Taken together, the net new "high probability" utility-scale capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years - i.e., the Trump Administration's remaining time in office - would total 106,492-MW. Solar and wind alone would contribute 105,951-GW. On the other hand, the installed capacity of fossil fuels and nuclear power combined would shrink by 10,974-MW.

Should FERC's three-year forecast materialize, by late-fall 2028, utility-scale solar would account for 17.2% of installed U.S. generating capacity - more than any other source besides natural gas (40.1%). Further, the capacity of the mix of all utility-scale renewable energy sources would exceed 38%. Inclusion of small-scale solar - assuming it retains its 25% share of all solar - could push solar's share to over 20% and that of all renewables to over 41% while that of natural gas would drop to about 38%.

In fact, the numbers for renewables could be significantly higher.

FERC notes that "all additions" (net) for utility-scale solar over the next three years could be as high as 225,818-MW while those for wind could total 59,664-MW. Hydro's net additions could reach 8,341-MW while geothermal and biomass could increase by 212-MW and 44-MW respectively. Such growth by renewable sources would significantly exceed that of natural gas (32,152-MW).

"Coupled with recent court decisions to lift pauses' on offshore wind construction, the continued dominant growth by solar and wind should send a clear wake-up call to the Trump Administration," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "Renewable energy is the future and will not be stopped by the short-sighted policies emanating from the White House." 

Source:  

FERC's 8-page "Energy Infrastructure Update for November 2025" was posted on January 29, 2026. The link to the full report can be found at: https://cms.ferc.gov/media/energy-infrastructure-update-november-2025.

For the information cited in this update, see the tables entitled "New Generation In-Service (New Build and Expansion)," "Total Available Installed Generating Capacity," and "Generation Capacity Additions and Retirements."

FERC notes: "Data derived from Velocity Suite, Hidachi Energy, and Yes Energy. The data may be subject to update."

Notes:   

[1] Generating capacity is not the same as actual generation. Fossil fuels and nuclear power usually have higher "capacity factors" than do wind and solar. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports capacity factors in calendar year 2024 for nuclear power, combined-cycle natural gas plants and coal were 92.3%, 59.7%, and 42.6% respectively while those for wind and utility-scale solar PV were 34.3% and 23.4%. See Tables 6.07.A and 6.07.B in EIA's most recent "Electric Power Monthly" report. 

[2] While FERC does not provide capacity data for small-scale solar, the EIA does. In its latest "Electric Power Monthly" report issued on January 26, 2026, EIA reported that as of November 30, 2025, installed solar capacity totaled 204,377.9-MW of which 58,688.6-MW (i.e., 28.7%) was provided by small-scale solar (estimated). See table 6.1 at https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_6_01

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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.