Market Signal: clean energy is 93% of what gets built this year
EIA data puts clean energy at 93% of new US utility-scale capacity in 2026, batteries alone at 28%.
The EIA reports that clean energy will account for 93% of all new utility-scale electricity capacity coming online in the US this year, with solar at 51%, batteries at 28%, and wind at 14%. Natural gas takes 7%, and no coal or nuclear plants are scheduled for construction in 2026.
The signal Solar-plus-storage accounts for 79% of new capacity, and batteries at 28% now sit as a comparable infrastructure category to wind at 14% rather than an add-on. Texas leads utility-scale solar over California for the first time.
Hiring BESS deployment at this scale needs Project Managers, Construction Leads, Commissioning Engineers, and Operations Teams, not just developers. Expect heavy hiring across solar EPC, BESS integration, and grid interconnection.