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Title: US Solar Keeps Surging, Generating More Power Than Hydro In 2025

Link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/05/23/...

In early 2025, U.S. solar power production jumped 44% compared to the
previous year, driven by end-of-year construction to capture tax incentives
and long-term cost advantages. "The bad news is that, in contrast to China,
solar's growth hasn't been enough to offset rising demand," notes Ars
Technica. "Instead, the US also saw significant growth in coal use, which
rose by 23 percent compared to the year prior, after years of steady
decline." From the report: Short-term fluctuations in demand are normal,
generally driven by weather-induced demand for heating or cooling. Despite
those changes, demand for electricity in the US has been largely flat for
over a decade, largely thanks to gains in efficiency. But 2024 saw demand go
up by nearly 3 percent, and the first quarter of 2025 saw another rise, this
time of nearly 5 percent. It's a bit too early to say that we're seeing a
shift to a period of rising demand, but one has been predicted for some time
due to rising data center use and the increased electrification of
transportation and appliances. Under those circumstances, the rest of the
difference will be made up for with fossil fuels. Running counter to recent
trends, the use of natural gas dropped during the first three months of 2025.
This means that the use of coal rose nearly as quickly as demand, up by 23
percent compared to the same time period in 2024. Despite the rise in coal
use, the fraction of carbon-free electricity held steady year over year, with
wind/solar/hydro/nuclear accounting for 43 percent of all power put on the US
grid. That occurred despite small drops in nuclear and hydro production.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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