In 2026, Washington threw everything it had at renewables. Solar, storage, and wind still built 90 percent of America's new power in the first half of the year.
This isn't new. Clean energy, mainly solar and batteries, has led U.S. power plant construction for several years running, according to the government's own capacity reports.
EIA data shows solar and battery storage combined made up roughly 60 percent of planned new U.S. capacity as far back as 2022, growing to more than half of all actual new capacity by 2023 and 2024. Solar alone was forecast to exceed half of all new U.S. generating capacity for the first time in 2023.
Solar plus battery storage's stylized share of new U.S. capacity, 2022–2024. Bar heights illustrate the multi-year trend described in the EIA reports cited above; exact annual figures vary by report.
In 2026 alone, the administration phased out tax credits, froze clean energy permitting, and imposed new tariffs on solar, while continuing to make claims about renewables that outlets have flagged as misleading.
Inside Climate News, in its own deep dive into 2026's power plant data, noted a warning sign for the fossil fuel buildout many expected to take renewables' place. Combined cycle natural gas plants, the largest and most efficient class of gas plant, had only three projects come online nationwide in the first half of 2026, despite enormous announced capacity still sitting in development. The high tide of new gas plants, the outlet concluded, simply hasn't arrived yet.
Solar, storage, and wind made up 90 percent of new U.S. power capacity added between January and June 2026. Solar and batteries alone accounted for more than two thirds of it.
Inside Climate News counted every power plant that came online nationwide during that stretch. Utility scale solar led with 207 individual projects totaling 11,458 megawatts, followed by batteries with 95 projects and 8,207 megawatts, and onshore wind with just 9 projects but 5,473 megawatts, most of that from the single giant SunZia project. The three largest categories of new natural gas plants added only 2,707 megawatts combined. The real underlying workhorse, one analyst told the outlet, is solar plus battery.
New U.S. capacity by source, first half of 2026, in megawatts. Solar 11,458. Batteries 8,207. Onshore wind 5,473. Natural gas, all types combined, 2,707.
Tariffs and lost tax credits made renewables more expensive to build in 2026. Independent cost analyses still found utility scale solar and wind cheaper than any new fossil fuel plant, even after those added costs.
Lazard's 2026 levelized cost of energy report, covered separately by Canary Media, found utility scale solar and onshore wind costs rose 18 percent and 11 percent respectively because of tariffs, lost credits, and higher interest rates. Both still remained the cheapest new power sources overall, undercutting new gas by roughly 20 dollars per megawatt hour, since gas costs rose even faster amid a global turbine supply shortage.
Red segment shows the added cost tariffs and lost credits put on renewables in 2026. Even with that added cost, renewables still landed cheaper than new gas per Lazard's 2026 analysis.
Texas led in total new capacity. But by sheer number of individual solar projects completed, Illinois came out on top, ahead of both California and Texas.
Inside Climate News found Illinois led the nation with 36 new utility scale solar projects in the first half of 2026, ahead of California's 22 and Texas's 16, though Illinois's projects tended to be smaller, so the state barely cracked the top ten by total megawatts. The outlet traced this directly to Illinois's own state policies, including the Solar for All program, which specifically encourage small and mid size solar projects rather than a handful of massive ones.
Most new solar projects, first half of 2026: Illinois 36, California 22, Texas 16. Most new capacity: Texas led overall, New Mexico second on the 3.65 gigawatt SunZia wind project, Arizona third.
The one real threat on the horizon. Amazon and OpenAI are each reportedly planning gas plants that alone could outbuild all U.S. gas construction from last year.
Those individual gas megaplants are still far from a done deal, facing their own permitting and construction hurdles, consistent with Inside Climate News's own finding that large new gas plants are taking far longer to materialize than announced. But if even one gets built as planned, it could be the first real challenge to renewables' construction dominance in years.
The same construction site from the opening scene, with an unbuilt gas plant's silhouette looming at the edge. It stays unresolved, just as the real projects do.