When last we looked at the state of the US grid, the ongoing explosion in solar energy had turned it into a major contributor, but one that still lagged well behind fossil-fuel-powered generation. So it was a bit of a surprise when preliminary data suggested that May 2026 saw solar power pass coal-fired generation for the first time in the US. Now, with the official release of April grid data by the Energy Information Administration, we can see that production of solar electricity had passed coal a month earlier—with a bit of a caveat.
The caveat being that a substantial chunk of that solar production never reached the grid, since it’s produced by rooftop installations and used in the building they sit atop.
The situation heading into April/May was pretty simple. After a brief resurgence last year, coal use resumed its decline, despite repeated government attempts to prop it up. Meanwhile, solar continued its rapid growth, driven by its position as the cheapest way to add generating capacity in most of the US. But this growth started from a small base, and the early months of the year are marked by seasonally low solar production. As a result, growth above 20 percent year over year still left solar providing only 6 percent of the power on the US grid, a sharp contrast to coal’s 16 percent.
The longer days in April, however, will naturally boost solar’s production, and that will combine with all the new installations that tend to be completed near the end of the year. Add in coal’s continuing decline, and the gap between the two closed considerably. One year ago in April, coal provided 14 percent of the power on the grid, and solar just 8.3 percent. The equivalent numbers for 2026 are 12 percent and 9.4 percent. So, there’s still a gap, but it’s considerably smaller.
