Solar and Batteries Lead US Power Plant Additions by a Lot. How Does This Square With the Trump Administration’s Agenda?

The United States added 22,332 megawatts of power plant capacity in the first half of this year, and the vast majority of it was utility-scale solar, batteries and onshore wind.

Through 2030, the U.S. energy landscape looks a lot like these last six months in terms of the mix of new power plants, with solar and batteries leading the way, according to the EIA’s list of planned power plants.

I’m digging into the numbers to try to make sense of the contrast between the Trump administration’s push to expand use of natural gas, coal and nuclear power, and the reality of which kinds of power plants—mainly renewables—are on track to serve the grid of the near future.

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