According to a study on changes in electric generating capacity by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), developers added 12 GW of new utility-scale solar power capacity in the United States during the first half of 2025 and plan to add another 21 GW in the second half. If these plans materialize, solar energy would account for more than half of the 64 GW that developers expect to bring online this year.

Battery storage, wind, and natural gas power plants make up nearly all of the remaining planned capacity additions for 2025.

Developers could set a new record for capacity growth if all 64 GW come online this year. The previous record was set in 2002, when developers added 58 GW to the grid, 57 GW of which were powered by natural gas. While natural gas capacity has been added every year since then, technologies such as wind, solar, and battery storage have become increasingly common for new installations.

If the planned capacity additions for solar PV and battery storage are completed, both technologies would add more capacity in 2025 than in any previous year. This growth is largely driven by developments in Texas.

Approximately 27% (3.2 GW) of the solar capacity added so far in 2025 is located in Texas, and developers plan to bring another 9.7 GW of solar online in the state during the second half of the year. Last year, Texas surpassed California as the state with the largest utility-scale solar capacity.

Battery storage represented the second-largest share of capacity additions in the first half of the year, accounting for 26% (5.9 GW), with about half of that capacity located in Arizona or California. Developers in Texas plan to install 7.0 GW of battery storage capacity in 2025, most of which is expected to come online in the second half of the year.

Relatively little generating capacity was retired during the first half of 2025. Of the 8.7 GW of power generation that U.S. operators plan to retire this year, only 2.0 GW were taken offline in the first six months. Compared to the retirement plans reported earlier in the year, more than 3.6 GW have now been delayed or canceled. These include the coal-fired Units 1 and 2 at Brandon Shores (1.3 GW), the oil-fired Units 3 and 4 at Herbert A. Wagner (0.7 GW) in Maryland, and the gas-fired Units 1, 2, and 3 at the VH Braunig plant (0.9 GW) in Texas.

If current retirement intentions hold, coal-fired power plants will represent 71% of the generation capacity retired in 2025, followed by natural gas plants at 19%.