Overview
- EIA’s January outlook forecasts nearly 70 GW of new utility-scale solar coming online in 2026–2027, lifting operating capacity by 49% versus the end of 2025.
- FERC’s October 2025 update shows solar provided 72% of U.S. capacity additions in the first ten months of 2025, pushing installed utility-scale solar capacity past wind for the first time.
- FERC projects about 89,720 MW of high-probability net solar additions from November 2025 through October 2028, more than four times the expected wind additions.
- EIA expects utility-scale solar generation to rise from 290 billion kWh in 2025 to 424 billion kWh in 2027, with the combined solar and wind share reaching about 21% in 2027.
- Battery growth is reshaping integration, with ERCOT storage projected to expand from about 15 GW in 2025 to 37 GW by end-2027 as Texas and the MISO region add capacity, and Ember reporting solar met 61% of 2025 demand growth as U.S. storage reached 26 GW after a 133% jump.