Wind and solar energy together accounted for nearly 96% of new utility-scale electricity generating capacity added in the USA during the first four months of 2025, according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reviewed by the Sun Day Campaign.
Between January and April 2025, 2,183MW of new wind capacity was installed, representing 18% of all new additions. Solar led with 9,451MW installed during the same period, or 77.7% of the total. Combined, wind and solar contributed 95.7% of all new capacity brought online. In comparison, natural gas added just 511MW (4.2%) and oil only 11MW (0.1%).
Wind and solar now each represent more than 10% of total installed utility-scale capacity in the USA, with wind at 11.8% and solar at 11.0%. Together, they make up 22.8% of the total. Including hydropower (7.7%), biomass (1.1%) and geothermal (0.3%), renewables account for 31.8% of installed utility-scale capacity. When small-scale solar is included, renewables now provide approximately one-third of the country’s total electricity generating capacity.
