Photograph: Baltimore County 
Photo voltaic didn’t simply present up in 2025 – it carried the grid. A brand new evaluation from world power assume tank Ember exhibits that solar energy accounted for 61% of the expansion in US electrical energy demand final yr, highlighting how central photo voltaic has grow to be as energy demand accelerates.
US electrical energy demand jumped by 135 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025, a 3.1% enhance, the fourth?largest annual rise of the previous decade. Over that very same interval, photo voltaic technology grew by a report 83 TWh – a 27% enhance from 2024 and the most important absolute achieve of any energy supply. That single soar in photo voltaic output lined 61% of all new electrical energy demand nationwide.
“Photo voltaic development was important in serving to to satisfy quick?rising US electrical energy demand in 2025,” mentioned Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember. “It generated the place it was wanted, and – with the surge in batteries – more and more when it was wanted.”
Texas, the Midwest, and the Mid?Atlantic noticed the most important will increase in photo voltaic technology final yr, and so they have been additionally the areas the place electrical energy demand rose the quickest. Photo voltaic met 81% of demand development in each Texas and the Midwest, and 33% within the Mid?Atlantic.
Timing mattered, too. In mixture, the rise in photo voltaic technology met the complete rise in US electrical energy demand throughout daytime hours between 10 am and 6 pm Jap. And on account of the fast buildout of battery storage, photo voltaic additionally helped cowl among the demand development throughout the night hours, from 6 pm to 2 am.

The adoption of battery storage is popping photo voltaic from low-cost daytime energy into one thing way more versatile. Over the previous six years, California’s utility?scale photo voltaic and battery technology has climbed 58%. But, output on the sunniest hour of the day has elevated by simply 8%, an indication that extra power is being saved and used later, fairly than dumped onto the grid abruptly.
Many of the new photo voltaic technology in 2025 was absorbed by rising electrical energy demand, permitting photo voltaic to scale alongside total grid development.
“Photo voltaic has the potential to satisfy all of the rise in electrical energy demand and far more. With electrical energy demand surging, the case to construct photo voltaic has by no means been stronger,” mentioned Jones.
Learn extra: EIA: All internet new producing capability in 2026 could also be renewables

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