The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that the United States will add 33.3 GW of utility-scale solar capacity in 2025.
The majority of this new capacity is expected to come online in the second half of the year. The EIA predicts that 21.3 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will be installed in the latter half of 2025, while battery storage installations are projected to reach 12.4 GW during the same period. For the full year, battery storage additions are expected to total 18.3 GW.
In the second half of 2025, the growth rate of utility-scale solar installations is anticipated to double, with the EIA forecasting 21.3 GW of new capacity nationwide. Source: EIA.
This forecast represents a slight upward revision from the EIA’s earlier prediction at the beginning of the year, which projected 32.5 GW of new utility-scale solar capacity for 2025. For battery storage, the forecast remains largely unchanged from February’s projection of 18.2 GW.
In 2025, new utility-scale power generation capacity additions—including solar, wind, natural gas, and battery storage—are expected to total 64 GW. Solar is projected to account for more than half of all planned new power capacity.
If all this capacity is grid-connected by the end of the year, it would set a new annual record for U.S. power capacity additions. The previous record was set in 2002, when 58 GW of capacity was added to the U.S. grid, 57 GW of which came from natural gas.
According to the EIA’s forecast, both solar PV and battery storage capacity are expected to set new records in 2025. The previous record for solar additions was set last year at 30 GW.
The EIA noted that Texas is driving significant growth in solar and storage capacity in 2025. So far this year, the state has accounted for 27% (3.2 GW) of the nation’s new solar capacity, with an additional 9.7 GW of utility-scale solar capacity expected to come online in the second half of the year.
Notable projects grid-connected in Texas during the first half of 2025 include the 600 MW Hornet Solar project, developed by renewable energy company Vesper Energy. Located in Swisher County, it is one of the largest single-phase solar projects in the United States, featuring over 1.36 million solar panels.
Other significant projects grid-connected in Texas earlier this year include a 300 MW solar farm developed by Invenergy in February, as well as three projects by Lightsource bp—a 187 MW project grid-connected in January and a 288 MW project portfolio connected in February.
In the energy storage sector, the EIA predicts that Texas will add 7 GW of new storage capacity in 2025, most of which is expected to begin commercial operation in the second half of the year.
In the first half of the year, developers across the United States added 12 GW of utility-scale solar capacity, matching the same period last year. During this time, solar was the leading source of new utility-scale power capacity, followed by battery storage at 5.9 GW.
