Solar and storage account for 91% of new U.S. grid capacity in first half of 2026

Solar power and battery storage made up 91% of all new electricity generation capacity added to the U.S. grid in the first quarter of 2026, the highest share on record for these two technologies combined. In May, solar generation topped coal for the first time nationally, and solar now supplies about 13% of total U.S. electricity, up from almost nothing a decade ago.

The growth shows up most clearly in states with heavy solar and storage buildout. In California, batteries discharged a record 12.99 gigawatts on the evening of July 9, covering 36% of the region's power demand during the hours after sunset when supply is usually tightest. The next day, solar alone met 72% of afternoon demand there, the third time the state broke its own solar record since June. Texas has seen similar milestones: batteries covered 20% of evening demand in mid-March, renewables met 79% of statewide demand the next day, and combined renewable output hit an all-time high of 52 gigawatts in May. Texas is now the fastest-growing state for large-scale solar and the second-largest for storage.

Beyond these two states, grid operators covering the Southwest, New England, the Midwest, and the mid-Atlantic all set new solar records in the past three months, often during periods of peak summer electricity use. For homeowners, this points to a grid increasingly leaning on solar and batteries to meet demand, including during the evening hours when home energy use tends to be highest.