The United States’ electric system is large, diverse, and changing. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA Form 860-M, December 2025) and the interconnection queues from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) show how the generation mix looks today and what is likely to be built next.

The Current Installed Fleet

Across the U.S., total installed generation capacity stands at 1,323,499 megawatts (MW).

Largest Installed Resources

• Natural Gas: 552,562 MW
• Coal: 181,690 MW
• Wind: 158,963 MW
• Solar: 148,667 MW
• Nuclear: 101,789 MW
• Hydro: 74,799 MW
• Battery Storage: 42,336 MW
  
  

Natural gas is the single largest installed resource in the country, representing roughly one-third of total installed capacity. Coal remains significant, but has seen little new development. Wind and solar together now represent over 300 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity, and battery storage has grown rapidly in recent years.

What Is Planned Over the Next Five Years?

According to EIA, planned additions totaling 261,631 MW across four technologies account for nearly all meaningful expected growth:

• Solar:     119,888 MW
• Battery:   65,746 MW
• Gas:          44,683 MW
• Wind:       27,318 MW

Solar leads planned additions, followed by battery storage. Natural gas remains a significant portion of new builds, and wind additions continue, though at lower levels than solar and storage.

Other technologies - hydro (307 MW), geothermal (188 MW), petroleum (154 MW), nuclear (500 MW), and pumped hydro (2,600 MW) - represent comparatively small additions.

Notably:

• No new coal plants are planned anywhere in the United States.
  
• Only one new nuclear plant, Kemmerer Unit 1 in Wyoming, is slated to open within the next decade.
• Utilities are instead focusing on reopening previously retired nuclear plants (such as Duane Arnold in Iowa and Palisades in Michigan) and conducting uprates at existing reactors.

What the Interconnection Queues Show

Interconnection queues provide insight into what developers are seeking to build, even though not all queued projects will ultimately be constructed.

MISO Queue (241,283 MW Total)

• Solar:      87,627 MW
• Battery:  79,826 MW
• Wind:      34,484 MW
• Gas:         37,155 MW
• Nuclear:   2,191 MW

Solar and batteries together represent more than 70% of the MISO queue. Wind and gas projects make up most of the remainder.

SPP Queue (78,826 MW Total)

• Gas :        27,330 MW
• Battery:  29,965 MW
• Solar:      14,576 MW
• Wind:        9,506 MW
• Coal:             405 MW

In SPP, natural gas and battery/hybrid resources together represent more than 70% of queued capacity. Solar and wind remain significant but smaller shares compared to MISO.

Technology Trends in Context

Several trends are evident from the data, including:

1. Natural gas remains the dominant installed resource.
   
   
2. Solar and batteries represent the largest categories of planned additions.
   
   
3. Wind continues to grow but at a slower pace than solar.
   
   
4. Coal has no new planned builds and minimal queue presence.
   
   
5. New nuclear development is limited to a single announced project.
   
   
6. Battery storage plays a growing role both in planned additions and interconnection queues.
   
   

Interconnection queues also highlight regional differences. MISO shows particularly strong solar and battery interest, while SPP’s queue reflects a larger relative share of natural gas and hybrid projects.

These figures reflect current installed capacity, announced planned additions, and interconnection requests as of December 2025.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA Form 860-M, December 2025); MISO and SPP Interconnection Queues)