EIA estimates that this summer in the Lower 48 states, the extra electricity from solar was about twice the extra from wind
Summer 2026 was hot, and people ran a lot of air conditioning. EIA estimates that from June through August in the Lower 48 states, electricity from the sun, the wind and natural gas all went up compared with the same months of 2025. The sun's increase was the biggest of the three.
EIA estimates that in the Lower 48 states (all the states except Alaska and Hawaii), electricity from solar power went up by 19.4 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) from June through August 2026, compared with June through August 2025. A kilowatthour is a unit for measuring electricity. Electricity from wind went up by 9.3 BkWh, and electricity from natural gas power plants went up by 7.5 BkWh.
Basis: EIA, “Henry Hub natural gas prices this summer were 6% lower than last summer” (September 25, 2026), citing EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook. EIA calls these estimates. The article's chart is labeled “U.S. Lower 48 June-August electricity generation growth by source.”
19.4 is a little more than twice 9.3. So solar added about twice as many kilowatthours as wind did.
Basis: Same EIA article. The “about twice” is our own division of EIA's two numbers: 19.4 ÷ 9.3 ≈ 2.1.
Why did people need more electricity? It was hot. The average temperature in the Lower 48 states was 77°F in July, the warmest ever for July. EIA says the exceptionally hot weather increased electricity demand for air conditioning.
Basis: Same EIA article, which cites National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data for the July temperature record.
Natural gas power plants often help meet higher demand in hot spells like this, and gas power did go up by 7.5 BkWh. But EIA estimates that the added renewable power (new solar and wind equipment, and the electricity it made) meant less natural gas was needed than otherwise to meet the higher summer demand. The Henry Hub natural gas price averaged $2.93 per million British thermal units from June through August, 6% less than the same period last year, even with the heat. EIA names more renewable electricity, record natural gas production and plenty of gas in storage as things that helped “limit upward pressure on prices.” In kid words: they made it harder for the price to climb.
Basis: Same EIA article.
Does this mean the Lower 48 states now make more solar power than wind power? This article can't tell us. It reports how much each one went up, not how much each one made in total. Something that grows faster can still be smaller overall. To answer the total question, you would need a different set of numbers.
※ A hypothesis is an idea that isn't proven yet.
📊 Sources for the rankings mentioned in this note (links to the original data and retrieval dates) are on each quiz page below.