Renewable energy sources are continuing to grow their share of the electrical generation makeup in the United States, growing more than 11% in Q1 2026 when compared to the previous year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest “Electric Power Monthly” shows that the first quarter growth was led by utility-scale solar (up 23.9%), hydropower (up 21.9%), small-scale solar (up 11.9%) and wind (up 2.1%). In addition, utility-scale battery energy storage capacity increased by 8.5%.
Credit: Lightsource bp and JERA Nex
By comparison, the electrical output of the nation’s coal plants fell by 11.4% while natural gas and nuclear both experienced weak growth – 1.1% and 0.9% respectively.
The SUN DAY Campaign reviewed the EIA data and found that the mix of all renewables, including biomass and geothermal, accounted for over 28.6% of total U.S. electrical generation during the first quarter. The combination of just wind and solar, including small-scale solar, provided 20.3% of domestic electrical production. Moreover, they out-produced nuclear power by 14.3% and coal by 31.1%.
As of April 1, 2026, renewable energy’s share of total U.S. utility-scale generating capacity was 33.6%. EIA projects this to grow to 36.6% by March 31, 2027. Utility-scale solar will add 42,626.1 MW, thereby expanding its share from 12.8% to 15.7%, while wind will grow by 14,157.4 MW (including 4,155.0 MW of offshore wind), increasing from 13.0% to 13.6%. The mix of other renewables will add 297.1 MW.
The combined capacity growth of all utility-scale renewable energy sources for the 12-month period (57,080.6 MW) is almost double that added during the previous 12 months (30,843.5 MW) — an increase of 85.1%.
Meanwhile, EIA projects no new generating capacity by nuclear power and a net decline of 4,266.2 MW in fossil fuel capacity.
The figures cited above do not include small-scale/residential solar. The capacity of small-scale solar systems grew by 6,358.2 MW during the last year, bringing its total to 60,978.4 MW. If small-scale solar does add approximately 6,000 MW more by April 1, 2027, it will bring renewable energy’s installed capacity up to about 533,319.7 MW. By comparison, natural gas’ generating capacity would total 514,868.4 MW.
Solar power’s share alone will be almost one-fifth (19.9%) of total U.S. capacity.
Battery storage increased by 17,301.8 MW in the past 12 months and EIA foresees another 23,523.8 MW being added by April 1, 2027, bringing the total up to 69,971.1 MW — an increase of over 50%. Thus, the combination of utility-scale renewable energy sources and battery energy storage will provide 80,604.4 MW of new clean energy capacity by early spring 2027. With the inclusion of small-scale solar, that figure could rise to close to 87,000 MW.
“The Trump Administration has now passed the one-third mark and largely failed to stop the clean energy transition,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “By a wide margin, renewables and battery storage will continue to dominate new growth in electrical capacity and generation.”
