In a first for the US, wind and solar produced more electricity than coal last year, according to a new report from energy think tank Ember. Coal fell to a historic low, generating 15 percent of the country’s electricity compared to 17 percent from solar and wind combined.
The federal government is now taking a sharp turn away from clean energy under the Trump administration. But the gains made last year show the market forces at play could keep momentum going despite President Donald Trump’s disdain for windmills and solar panels.
Solar was the fastest-growing source of electricity in 2024, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. It accounted for 81 percent of added annual capacity. Utility scale solar grew by a record 31 gigawatts. For context, a single gigawatt of power is comparable to 1.9 million photovoltaic panels.
Solar energy reached historically low costs in 2020, becoming the cheapest source of electricity in most parts of the world. While solar supply chains are still concentrated in China, manufacturing capacity for solar modules grew a whopping 190 percent in the US last year, according to a separate report released this week by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie. Texas saw the most growth in solar, according to both reports, and also has the most module manufacturing capacity — not bad for a state that’s historically been a hub for the oil and gas industry.
Wind generation grew more modestly, but it is still about twice as big a source of electricity than solar, making up about 10 percent of the US electricity mix. Like solar, onshore wind is also generally a cheaper source of electricity than coal or gas.
All these trends could help insulate renewable energy companies from the Trump administration’s assault on anything to do with addressing the climate crisis. Federal agencies have attempted to claw back funding for renewable energy projects. Trump, who accepted tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies, never misses an opportunity to trash talk solar and wind projects. He frequently spouts misinformation that falsely links whale deaths to offshore wind projects and signed an executive order to stop federal approvals and leases for wind farms on federal lands and waters. And his tariff threats on goods from Canada and China could raise costs for new energy projects.
Nevertheless, electricity demand is climbing in the US after flatlining for 14 years with gains in energy efficiency. Electricity demand rose 3 percent last year, the fifth-highest jump this century, according to Ember. The rise of energy-hungry AI data centers, crypto mines, and electric vehicles and appliances has led to growing interest in developing more sources of energy across the board, from renewables to nuclear reactors and gas plants.
Rising demand led to a 3.3 percent increase in electricity generated from gas-fired power plants last year. Coal generation peaked in 2007, outcompeted by a boom in fracked gas. And while gas produces less planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions than coal, it’s still a powerful source of the pollution that leads to climate change.
A third report on national power demand out this week — commissioned by a diverse range of trade groups including the American Clean Power Association, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Nuclear Energy Institute — says the nation’s power grids need to grow significantly. The US will need to install 900 gigawatts of renewable energy and batteries by 2040, it says. The report also advocates for up to 100 gigawatts of new gas capacity, even though that doesn’t jive with what researchers have found is necessary to prevent the climate crisis from getting much worse than it already is.
“Solar is winning,” Ember chief analyst Dave Jones said in a press release. “It added more generation than gas in 2024 and batteries will ensure that solar can grow more cheaply and quickly than gas.”
There’s plenty of room for growth, of course, considering around 60 percent of the nation’s electricity mix comes from fossil fuels. But renewables have come a long way since 2018, when coal still generated three times as much electricity as solar and wind combined, according to Ember.
