US solar capacity growth: EIA predicts major increase

By Anders Lorenzen

Data that US President Donald Trump would likely dismiss as ‘fake news’, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), an independent analytics body, show that despite the rhetoric from Trump – solar is likely to lead the growth in new electricity capacity for the next two years at least.

The body, headquartered in Washington, DC, expects growth in the US power sector over the next two years to be driven mainly by new solar plants. The EIA said that in 2025, utilities in the US are expected to add 26 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, with another 22 GW in 2026.

Doubling capacity

In 2024, the US power sector added 27 GW of new solar capacity, doubling what was added in 2023.

Despite Trump’s love letter to the coal industry, the Washington DC agency expects coal retirements to accelerate in 2025 11 GW and 4 GW of coal capacity are expected to retire in 2025 and 2026, respectively, representing 6% and 2% of US coal capacity.

Clean energy advocates and stakeholders will hope that this data set shows that there’s only so much the government can do to slow down solar and other clean energy sources and that utilities and investors know that the trajectory is only heading in one direction.

Globally, analysts estimate that in 2024, just shy of 600 GW at 593 GW of new solar capacity was added, with China accounting for most installations.

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