Solar and wind accounted for 93% of new U.S. electricity capacity additions in November 2025, making solar PV the leading new source of electricity for 27 consecutive months, according to a review of FERC data by the SUN DAY Campaign. Of that percentage, solar was 72% of new generating capacity both in November and for 2025.
According to FERC’s “Energy Infrastructure Update” report for November, 2.879 GW of solar started service in November. Thirteen of those projects were 100 MW or larger, inluding the the 484.6-MW Parliament Solar Project and the 256.3-MW Stampede Solar & Storage Expansion Project, which were both built in Texas.
By November 2024, 27.668 GW of solar had been activated, compared to 25.467 GW through November last year. During the last 27 months, total utility-scale solar capacity grew from 91.82 GW to 163.44 GW. Wind added 13.20 GW and natural gas added 6.83 GW in the same period.
Utility-scale solar is now nearly one-eighth (12.09%) of the nation’s total electrical generating capacity. Solar leads utility-scale renewable energy output. Natural gas and coal are the only energy sources producing more power than solar, but the renewable energy is on track to overtake coal capacity before the end of 2026.
Wind and solar combined accounted for nearly 92.9% of capacity additions in November. They now constitute nearly one-quarter (24.0%) of the nation’s installed utility-scale generating capacity.
In addition, more than 25% of U.S. solar capacity is in the form of small-scale (rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than a quarter of the nation’s total.
Combined with 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.
FERC is expecting solar to grow another 86.13 GW between December 2025 and November 2028, which is more than four times the expected additions for wind and more than eight times the expected additions for natural gas.
Despite President Donald Trump’s push for fossil fuel deployments, renewable energy sources are expected to still account for a predicted 106.492 GW of new electricity during the remainder of his term — with solar and wind potentially claiming 105.951 GW of that sum. If it happens, solar would account for 17.2% of the country’s generating capacity.
“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,” said Ken Bossong, the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director. “Renewable energy is the future and will not be stopped by the short-sighted policies emanating from the White House.”
News item from the SUN DAY Campaign
