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US Clean Power Capacity Reaches 370 GW as Solar, Storage Growth Continues, ACP Says

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US clean power capacity reached 370 GW in the first quarter of 2026 after developers added 6.4 GW of new generation, enough capacity to supply nearly 80 million homes, American Clean Power said in the quarterly market report on Wednesday.

Solar and battery storage continued to drive industry growth, while federal permitting delays and regulatory challenges slowed the development of new wind projects, according to the report.

Compared with the same period last year, the clean power development pipeline expanded 6%, supported by a 13% increase in solar projects and an 8% rise in battery storage projects, American Clean Power said.

Federal approval delays left land-based wind development largely unchanged, while the offshore wind pipeline contracted 35% as developers continued to face permitting hurdles and policy uncertainty, the report said.

Utility-scale solar developers brought more than 3.6 GW of new capacity online during the quarter, lifting total operating solar capacity to 161.1 GW, American Clean Power said.

Compared with the first quarter of 2025, when developers energized 7,695 MW, clean power installations fell 17%, while activity dropped 66% from the fourth quarter of 2025, the report said.

More than 6.4 GW of clean power projects scheduled to begin operating during the quarter failed to meet their target timelines, highlighting persistent development delays, American Clean Power said.

The delayed-project backlog grew to 53 GW as developers continued to face permitting bottlenecks, crowded grid connection queues, and fluctuating equipment costs, according to the report.

With more than 96.4 GW of operating clean power capacity, Texas remained the country's largest clean energy market and accounted for 26% of online capacity nationwide.

Texas is nearing the 100 GW mark and already operates more clean power capacity than the next four largest states combined, the report said.

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