Renewable Energy Is Winning, Trump Is Losing (Shocker!)

New federal data show renewable energy now supplies more than 30% of US electricity, up almost 11% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year. The growth is coming mostly from solar: utility-scale solar generation rose 21.6%, small-scale solar (the kind installed on homes and small buildings) rose 13%, wind rose 6.5%, and hydropower rose 10.1%. Coal generation fell 11.3%, while nuclear and natural gas grew only slightly. Over the past five years, solar capacity has tripled and battery storage capacity has grown twenty-fold, according to the US Energy Information Administration, as reported by the Sun Day Campaign.

This growth is happening despite federal policy moves aimed at slowing wind and favoring fossil fuels and nuclear power. Solar and battery storage are being built faster than other power sources, which is why they keep gaining ground even as some federal support shifts away from them. Texas is a good example: its grid operator, ERCOT, has increasingly relied on solar during the day and battery storage in the evening to handle summer demand without the outages seen in past years.

None of this changes what any individual homeowner needs to do right now, but it points to where the electricity you buy is increasingly coming from, and it helps explain why solar panels, home batteries, and other clean-energy equipment keep getting cheaper and more common. If you are weighing a home solar or storage upgrade, it is worth checking what incentives your own state currently offers, since availability varies.