Solar Power Has Officially Overtaken Coal In The U.S. For The First Time

No two people agree on the most efficient energy source, but many will admit that the sun is the greenest power source. Electric companies set up "farms" to harvest solar radiation for power, and many homeowners install solar panels on their houses. Adoption has been slow, but solar power finally had a significant victory over one of its main rivals.

Earlier this month, the global energy think tank Ember released a report that, for the first time, solar power generated more electricity than coal in the U.S. According to Ember, solar panels generated 12.8% of electricity nationwide, while coal produced 12.2%. This milestone was the product of rising solar panel productivity and a reduced reliance on coal. In fact, organizations such as the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie clarified that over 90% of all the energy added to the U.S. electrical grid this year (approximately 7.8 GW) came from solar power and storage installations.

While the news sounds impressive, we must temper the hype a small bit. While coal is now the fourth-largest source of electricity in the U.S., gas and nuclear energy production still outshine solar power. Moreover, this news coincided with the time of year when spring starts to give way to summer, when temperatures (and the need for cooling solutions) rise, and sunlight grows more intense. Will solar power continue this upward trend? It probably could if we stop relying on fossil fuels (studies show that fossil fuels weaken and ruin solar power), but we still have the rest of the year to find out.

Analysts in the aforementioned organizations view this recent milestone as a sign of things to come. For instance, Ember's Senior Data Analyst, Nicolas Fulgum, stated that "markets across the US are betting on solar to meet rising power needs." However, others view it as a sign that the current administration is out of touch, especially with its own voter base.

As outlets such as AP News point out, solar power finally overtook coal amid Trump's attempts to revitalize the U.S. coal industry at the expense of renewable energy. Recently, Trump announced a plan to spend around $700 million on the coal industry, including power plants and exports, all while his administration guts solar power projects and cancels their funding. And yet despite these attempts to (what some might call) sabotage solar power, coal continues to lose. As Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Canadian solar power manufacturer Heliene, told AP News, "investors will invest their money in whatever brings the best return. And for power generation that is solar."

To add insult to injury, states such as Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Arizona, and Mississippi accounted for 74% of 2026's solar projects and energy — all states Trump won in the previous election. According to Darren Van't Hof, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, these numbers demonstrate that customers prioritize the "security, low cost, and speed" that energy sources like solar provide, regardless of political affiliation. Plus, the more solar power plants we build, the more they will take the strain off our electricity bills due to AI (data centers still do plenty of harm aside from utility costs, though).