US Set to Install a Record 86 Gigawatts of New Power Capacity in 2026, More Than Half of It Solar

American utilities and power developers are on track to install 86 gigawatts of new generating capacity on the US electrical grid in 2026 — the largest single-year build-out in the country's history, and one that would surpass the previous record set just last year by nearly two-thirds, according to projections from the US Energy Information Administration published in February.

The 86 gigawatt figure represents a staggering acceleration in the pace of energy construction. In 2025, the United States added roughly 53 gigawatts of new capacity — itself a record at the time, and the highest since the early 2000s. The 2026 projection would represent a 62 percent increase over that already-historic year, driven by a wave of solar and battery storage projects that were approved in 2023 and 2024 and are now completing construction across the Sun Belt and the Great Plains.

Solar energy accounts for 43.4 gigawatts — about 51 percent of all projected new capacity — a 60 percent jump from 2025 solar additions. Battery storage is the second-largest category at 24 gigawatts, more than doubling last year's installations. Wind energy, at 11.8 gigawatts, is also projected to more than double compared to 2025 additions. Together, the three clean energy technologies account for more than 90 percent of all new capacity planned.

Texas dominates the national build-out. The state, already the largest electricity market in the continental United States, accounts for roughly 40 percent of all projected new solar capacity and more than half of all new battery storage additions nationwide. The Tehuacana Creek 1 project in central Texas — 837 megawatts of solar paired with 418 megawatts of storage — will be among the largest single solar-plus-storage installations ever completed in the United States. The SunZia Wind project in New Mexico, at 3,650 megawatts of onshore wind, is the largest wind project in US history and will begin delivering power this year.

The economics driving the surge are now largely independent of government subsidies. Solar and battery storage costs have fallen roughly 90 percent over the past decade, making new projects the cheapest source of electricity in most US markets on a levelized cost basis. The federal Inflation Reduction Act tax credits remain a significant accelerant, but developers in most regions say projects pencil out even without them.

The US numbers mirror a global transformation. The International Renewable Energy Agency reported that 692 gigawatts of new renewable capacity was added worldwide in 2025, a 15.5 percent year-over-year increase. By end of last year, renewables accounted for nearly half of all installed global electricity capacity — 5.15 terawatts out of roughly 10.5 terawatts total. Energy analysts describe the current pace of construction as the fastest large-scale infrastructure transformation in economic history.

The primary remaining constraint is not generation but transmission. The US grid was designed around large, centralized power plants feeding power in one direction, and it is poorly suited to the distributed, variable nature of solar and wind energy. The permitting backlog for new transmission lines now runs to more than 3,000 gigawatts of projects waiting for grid interconnection approval — meaning that in many sunny regions, new solar panels sit idle during peak generation hours because there are not enough wires to carry the electricity to where it is needed. Federal and state regulators have both moved to streamline permitting processes, but grid experts say the backlog will take years to resolve and represents the single biggest bottleneck in the energy transition.