2025: Solar, BESS To Account For 81% New US Capacity Addition

The latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory report by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects 63 GW of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to be added to the US power grid in 2025. This amount represents an almost 30% increase from 2024, when 48.6 GW of capacity was installed, the largest capacity installation in a single year since 2002. Together, solar and battery storage account for 81% of the expected total capacity additions, with solar accounting for over 50% of the increase.

Solar

In 2024, generators added a record 30 GW of utility-scale solar to the US grid, accounting for 61% of capacity additions last year. The company expects this trend will continue in 2025, with 32.5 GW of new utility-scale solar capacity to be added. Texas (11.6 GW) and California (2.9 GW) will account for almost half of the new utility-scale solar capacity addition in 2025. It also expects five other states (Indiana, Arizona, Michigan, Florida, and New York) each to account for more than 1 GW of added solar capacity in 2025 and collectively account for 7.8 GW of planned solar capacity additions.

BESS

Battery storage. In 2025, capacity growth from battery storage could set a record as EIA expects 18.2 GW of utility-scale battery storage to be added to the grid. US battery storage already achieved record growth in 2024 when power providers added 10.3 GW of new battery storage capacity. This growth highlights the importance of battery storage when used with renewable energy, helping to balance supply and demand and improve grid stability. Energy storage systems are not primary electricity sources, meaning the technology does not create electricity from a fuel or natural resource. Instead, they store electricity that has already been created from an electricity generator or the electric power grid, which makes energy storage systems secondary sources of electricity.

Wind

In 2025, EIA expects 7.7 GW of wind capacity to be added to the US grid. Last year, only 5.1 GW was added, the smallest wind capacity addition since 2014. Texas, Wyoming, and Massachusetts will account for almost half of 2025 wind capacity additions. Two large offshore wind plants are expected to come online this year: the 800-megawatt (MW) Vineyard Wind 1 in Massachusetts and the 715-MW Revolution Wind in Rhode Island.