A new report issued by the American Public Power Association says that 468,582 megawatts of new generation capacity is under development in the United States, which is comparable to the total capacity under development for the last two years.
This includes 143,247 MW under construction or permitted and 325,335 MW proposed or pending application. Around 10,000 MW have moved from the pending or proposed to construction or permitted stage in the past year, the report, “America’s Electricity Generation Capacity:2025 update,” said.
The report was prepared by Lindsey Buttel, Manager, Research and Statistics, at APPA.
A majority of all new generation capacity under development is for solar energy (55%), followed by wind (26%) and natural gas (11%).
However, over two-thirds of the wind capacity is in the proposed stage, which is the earliest and most uncertain stage of development and includes units that are least likely to be built.
Trends in the development stages of the share of fuel type also show that wind capacity is far less likely than solar to move to the application phase and beyond.
There is notably less wind in the pipeline and more natural gas than in years past. In 2024, there are 22% fewer wind projects under development and 58% more natural gas projects by MW. Despite accounting for 9% of all current capacity, public power projects account for less than 2% of all projects in the development pipeline. A large majority (88%) of capacity in development is owned by nonutility generators.
The largest fuel source is natural gas, accounting for just under 43% of all generation capacity. Coal, with a share of 15%, represents the second largest source of generation capacity. Wind, nuclear, hydro, and solar together account for more than one-third of capacity.
Surge of Solar and Energy Storage
For the fourth year in a row, solar was the leading source of new utility-scale capacity. In 2024, over 30,000 MW of solar capacity came online, which is a 30% increase in operating solar capacity.
An additional 34,000 MW are under preparation, testing, or construction and projected to come online in 2025.
Nearly 11,000 MW of energy storage were added in 2024 to supplement generation capacity, increasing the total MW of energy storage 62% within the last year and 181% in the last two years. 15,306 MW of additional energy storage under preparation, testing, or construction are projected to come online in 2025.
Retirements and Cancellations
Nearly 38,000 MW of planned generation capacity developments were canceled in 2024. Solar accounted for a plurality (43%) of the cancellations, and wind and natural gas projects accounted for most of the remaining cancellations.
Generation capacity additions (37,003 MW) outpaced the total generation capacity retired (7,192 MW) in 2024.
Retirements in 2024 were nearly half the 15,722 MW retired in 2023. A plurality of the generation capacity retired in 2024 was from coal-fired facilities (49%), with over 3,500 MW retired. 83,226 MW of coal has been retired since 2017. More than 56,000 MW in coal capacity is planned to be retired through 2029, which represents 28% of the current generation capacity of all coal-fired facilities
