U.S. Energy Information Administration – EIA

U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON DC 20585

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 24, 2025

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes monthly data on operating, planned, and retired electricity generating capacity in the United States.

All EIA resources that discuss electricity capacity rely on data that power plant builders and operators report to EIA on the Form EIA-860 (annual) and Form EIA-860M (monthly) surveys. These data can answer important questions often asked of EIA, including:

• How much natural gas capacity is currently operating in the United States?
• How many solar projects are planned to come online this year?
• How much nuclear capacity has retired since 2010?
• How has battery capacity changed since 2010?

Key terms

Generator: A generator is a unit that produces electric power. A power plant typically has multiple generators. EIA data on capacity is organized by generator, not by power plant.

Net summer capacity: When tracking electricity generation capacity, EIA—and most of the electricity industry—typically relies on net summer capacity. Net summer capacity is the maximum amount of power that generation equipment can supply to the grid at the time of summer peak demand.

Utility-scale: Utility-scale systems include power plants that have at least 1 megawatt of electricity generation capacity. EIA data on capacity are largely limited to utility-scale power plants.

Operating capacity

The EIA-860M spreadsheet has a tab labeled “Operating” that includes all U.S. utility-scale electricity generators along with their county, state, net summer capacity, technology, energy source, operating year, planned retirement date (if applicable), and operating status.

The data are lagged by one month and are the most current and most complete capacity data available.

EIA also has several tables with distilled data that are lagged by two months, but you may find these tables easier to navigate or to track trends:

• Electric Power Monthly Tables 6.2a, 6.2b, and 6.2c show electricity generating capacity by state for all sources, renewable sources, and fossil fuel sources, respectively. Tables show current data compared with year-ago data.
• Monthly Energy Review Table 7.7a tracks national electricity generation capacity by source since 1950.

Planned capacity additions

The EIA-860M spreadsheet has a tab labeled “Planned” that includes all U.S. utility-scale electricity generators that operators plan to bring online, along with their county, state, net summer capacity, technology, energy source, planned time frame for entering operation, and current status.

The schedules for capacity additions often change; the 860M shows specific projects planned to come online, but it is not a forecasting tool.

Electric Power Monthly Table 6.5 lists planned electricity capacity additions, lagged one month behind the EIA-860M.

Retired capacity

The EIA-860M spreadsheet has a tab labeled “Retired” that includes all U.S. utility-scale electricity generators that operators that have retired since 2002, along with their county, state, net summer capacity, technology, energy source, and retirement date.

Electric Power Monthly Table 6.6 lists planned electricity capacity retirements, lagged one month behind the EIA-860M.

Forecasts and projections

EIA relies on 860M data to forecast capacity changes in its Short-Term Energy Outlook Table 7e by fuel source for the current and next calendar year. These forecasts sometimes include capacity additions or retirements not reported on the EIA-860M, based on EIA’s interpretation of the market. EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2025 Table 9 presents multiple scenarios for the capacity that would need to be built over the long term under multiple market and policy conditions.

EIA has experts available to discuss capacity data and trends. Members of the press can contact EIA’s media relations team with any questions or requests at EIAMedia@eia.gov.

The data described in this advisory were prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. By law, EIA’s data, analysis, and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the U.S. government. The views in the product and this press release therefore should not be construed as representing those of the U.S. Department of Energy or other federal agencies.

EIA Press Contact: Chris Higginbotham, EIAMedia@eia.gov