The US installed 43 GW of solar capacity in 2025, bringing cumulative installed capacity to 279 GW and marking the fifth consecutive year solar led all new electricity-generating capacity, per the SEIA/Wood Mackenzie annual report. Solar accounted for 54% of all new capacity added to the US grid in 2025. The full-year total was slightly below 2024’s record of approximately 50 GW, reflecting some project timing shifts related to module tariff uncertainty, but well above any pre-2023 year.
The supply-chain disruption from the June 2025 Southeast Asian tariff ruling did not crater deployment as some had feared. Developers with pre-tariff module contracts, US-manufactured supply, or sourcing from non-affected countries (primarily the Middle East and India) absorbed most of the shock without material project delays. The projects that slipped are concentrated in the 2026 pipeline rather than 2025 actuals.
For 2026, SEIA and Wood Mackenzie are projecting another record, with 43.4 GW of planned utility-scale additions alone, a roughly 60% increase in capacity additions year-over-year on the utility side. Texas accounts for approximately 40% of planned 2026 additions. The five-year streak at the top of new capacity additions means solar is no longer a challenger technology in the US capacity mix; it is the default answer to “how do we add generation quickly.”