In 2005 wind and solar made less than 1% of America's electricity. In 2025 they made 17%. That is a whole electricity system built inside one human lifetime — in fact, inside 20 years.
Wind and large solar farms together made 17% of U.S. electricity in 2025 — a record. Counting small rooftop solar too, it's 19%. Twenty years earlier, in 2005, it was under 1%.
Basis: U.S. Energy Information Administration, “Wind and solar generated a record 17% of U.S. electricity in 2025” (March 20, 2026)
Wind is still the bigger of the two: 464,000 GWh from wind, 296,000 GWh from large solar farms, plus 93,000 GWh from small rooftop solar.
Basis: Same EIA article (generation by source, 2025)
But solar is growing much faster. Compared with 2024, large solar rose 34% while wind rose 3%.
Basis: Same EIA article (year-over-year growth rates)
At those two speeds solar would pass wind before long — but a single year's growth rate is a fragile thing to predict with. Weather, prices and new construction can all change it.
※ 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.