EIA: solar to drive 2025–26 US power growth

The EIA or US Energy Information Administration has revealed the substantial importance that solar will provide the American energy sector as it forecasts increased energy demands for the years to come. The United States has seen a rise in solar power generation, thanks in no small part to the rise in solar power production in Texas. The US is on track to increase energy demands, thanks to an increase in population density and new and innovative tech sectors becoming more dominant in the United States.

The EIA states that solar is key to America’s plans for energy independence

As the energy demands worldwide are on an upward trajectory, several countries have made significant investments in the renewable energy sector. And the most dominant force in the renewable energy sector is, without a doubt, solar. Solar power has been apart of the American energy sector for nearly thirty years and still serves as a crucial energy provider.

US Energy Information Administration has announced that during the first half of 2025, developers added 12 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale solar electric generating capacity in the United States. The sector has plans to increase the percentage of power generation that solar provides in the United States. If those plans become a reality, they could add another 21 GW in the second half of the year.

New records could be set for capacity additions if all 64 GW come online in 2025

The previous record for U.S. generating capacity additions was set in 2002, when developers added an astonishing 58 GW to the grid. The vast majority of that addition came from natural gas, which is where this new record differs. The solar sector could set a new record if all units come online this year, as the renewable sector finds a more substantial foothold in the energy sector worldwide.

Texas has played a crucial role in the rise in solar usage in the energy sector in the United States. Texas surpassed California as the state with the most utility-scale solar capacity only last year, and projections are that Texas’s fondness and proclivity for solar is only going to grow as energy demands rise in the United States. Kansas has seen recent discoveries of cast troves of hydrogen that could accelerate the US energy independence efforts.

“Clearly, we need more incentives to quickly increase the use of wind and solar power; they will cut costs, increase our energy independence and our national security and reduce the consequences of global warming”. – Ralph Nader

(Implicitly supports solar power) “Energy is essential for development, and sustainable energy is essential for sustainable development”. – Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Donald Trump administration has plans to halt the progress being made in the solar sector

What is truly concerning is that the Trump administration view solar as a Biden era solution to America’s energy problems, and as such has signed several executive orders aimed at easing the regulations for the coal and gas sector, which has environmental groups up in arms. Despite his executive orders aimed at the energy sector, we suspect that not even the United States president can slow down the inevitable progress that the solar sector has seen in recent years. The forecast is for more solar plants to come online this year, and the hope is that the current administration will not use the energy sector as political cannon fodder to score points with its base. The EIA has revealed the crucial part that solar plays in thew United States energy sector, and we expect that importance to grow as the US energy demands grow. Regardless of the administration’s stance towards the solar sector, it is still one of the most dominant forms of energy production worldwide.