In the US, Solar Is the Best Renewable Energy Source, Beating Wind and Hydro

Solar Power Breaks Records with 30% Growth

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), solar power production in the U.S. keeps breaking records.

According to the most recent “Electric Power Monthly” report from the EIA (with data up to August 31, 2025), utility-scale solar output rose by about 30% from August 2024 to August 2025. Rooftop solar generation rose by 10.8%. Together, they made up 9.5% of the country’s electricity in August, up from 7.6% a year earlier.

Solar Outpaces Hydroelectric and Other Renewable Sources

The SUN DAY Campaign looked at the EIA statistics and discovered that solar-generated energy so far this year (YTD) was more than 58% higher than the output of the country’s hydroelectric facilities (5.6% of total production). In August, solar energy produced more than twice as much electricity as the country’s hydroelectric facilities. In fact, solar power produced more energy than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal power combined in both August and YTD.

Solar Surpasses Wind Power for Four Consecutive Months

Also, for the second month in a row, utility-scale solar produced more power than the country’s wind farms—4% more in July and 15% more in August. Solar has generated more than wind for four months in a row, and in August, it produced about 50% more.

Renewable Energy Now Accounts for Over One-Fifth of US Electricity

Wind and solar power generated over one-fifth (19.1%) of the electricity in the U.S. during the first eight months of 2025. This was an increase from 17.2% during the first two-thirds of 2024. Wind and solar together generated 16.2% more energy than coal did in the first eight months of this year, and 11.7% more than the country’s nuclear power facilities. In reality, while solar and wind power grew, nuclear power declined by 0.7%.

In January through August, all types of renewable energy together generated 9% more power than they did a year before. They also made up 26.1% of all U.S. electricity output, up from 24.5% a year earlier. Renewable energy currently makes up the second largest percentage of electricity production, behind natural gas. In fact, natural gas’s output declined by about 4.1% in the first eight months of 2025.

Battery Storage Capacity Surges by 64%

Battery storage also rose a lot, adding 13,377.5 MW of additional capacity and growing by 63.9% in the last year. Battery storage has actually overtaken pumped hydro storage (PHS) in terms of storage capacity during the last year. As of October 2024, battery storage has 50% greater capacity than PHS. The EIA also says that the total amount of anticipated battery capacity increases for the following year is 20,179.8 MW.

Natural gas capacity only went up by 3,337.7 MW, while nuclear power only went up by 46.0 MW. In the meantime, coal capacity dropped by 4,185.1 MW, and capacity based on oil dropped by another 658.7 MW.

So, in the last year, the amount of renewable energy, such as battery storage and small-scale solar, grew by 55,419.6 MW. In contrast, the amount of fossil fuels and nuclear power combined actually fell by 1,486.3 MW.

Ken Bossong, the executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign, said, “The Trump Administration and its Republican supporters in Congress may slow the growth of renewable energy a little.” “However, the EIA’s data supports the conclusion that the shift to solar, wind, other renewables, and storage is still going on, is speeding up, and has become unavoidable.”