By Kennedy Maize
Despite animosity from an administration that doesn’t really believe in an “all of the above” energy policy, solar did quite well in this year’s first quarter. Solar accounted for 69% of all electric generating capacity added to the U.S. grid in the 2025 first quarter.
According to a new analysis by the Solar Energy Industries Association, the industry’s Washington lobbying group, and the Wood Mackenzie data and consulting firm, “The U.S. solar industry added 8.6 gigawatts (GW) of new solar module manufacturing capacity in Q1 2025, marking the third-largest quarter for new manufacturing capacity on record.”
The industry installed 10.8 GW of new electricity generating capacity in the quarter. Solar and storage accounted for 82% of all new generating capacity added to the grid. The 10.8 GW is 7% less than the 2024 first quarter total and a 43% decline from the 2024 fourth quarter.
The 8.6 GW of new manufacturing capacity brings the U.S. total to 51MW. But “growth in upstream manufacturing capacity remains slow or non-existent. ES Foundry became just the second domestic cell manufacturer when it opened a 1 GW cell factory in South Carolina in January. No new polysilicon or wafer manufacturing came online in Q1.”
The sun shown most brightly in natural gas-centric Texas (+2.7 GW), 92% greater than No. 2 Florida. In both states, the growth was in utility-scale projects.
The solar market appears to be in a continuing shift to utility installations over rooftop solar. According to the report, the residential sector saw installation of 1,106-MW of new capacity in the first quarter “declining 13% year-over-year and 4% quarter-over-quarter. High interest rates and economic uncertainty continued to suppress demand. California maintained its lead in residential solar state rankings with 255 MW, but it was the state’s lowest quarterly capacity since Q3 2020.”
Community solar, which has been getting attention in recent years, added 486 MW, “declining 22% year-over-year and 71% quarter-over-quarter. Installations in Maine and New York fueled strong community solar growth at the end of 2024 driven by a net metering change and the alleviation of interconnection backlogs, respectively. Capacity dropped considerably in Q1 in both states, resulting in a decline in national volumes.”
In a news release, Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA CEO hailed solar’s first quarter results but warned of darkening skies for the industry. “Solar and storage continue to dominate America’s energy economy, adding more new capacity to the grid than any technology using increasingly American-made equipment.
“But our success is at risk. If Congress fails to fix the legislation passed by the House – which would render the energy tax incentives unusable – lawmakers will trigger a dangerous energy shortage that will raise our electric bills and stop America’s manufacturing boom in its tracks. The Senate still has time to get this right and secure President Trump’s vision for American energy dominance.”
Wood Mackenzie analyst Zoë Gaston said WoodMac’s analysis “suggests that the U.S. solar market has yet to reach its full potential. The proposed changes to federal tax incentives, along with ongoing tariff concerns, could significantly impact this growth trajectory and potentially lead to energy supply challenges. It’s important to consider the critical role of solar in America’s energy landscape.”
A separate SEIA analysis of the House-passed reconciliation bill concluded that the legislation would mean “330,000 current and future Americans jobs could be lost, 331 factories could close or never come online, and $286 billion in local investments could disappear. The bill could also trigger massive energy inflation, raising consumers’ electricity costs by $51 billion nationwide.”
If the House bill is enacted (which is unlikely as the Senate works it over), SEIA warned that the United States “will not be able to meet demand or compete with China in the global race to power AI.”
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