New solar, battery storage and onshore wind power generation totaled 11.7 GW in the third quarter of 2025, the American Clean Power Association reported.

This is a record for the quarter and brings U.S. nameplate capacity for the three technologies to 344.3 GW.

As it released its quarterly market report Dec. 4, ACP said the high level of buildout had been expected, due to the momentum developed in the past several years.

But it warned that two other third-quarter metrics reflect the uncertainty and risks facing the renewables sector: The development pipeline of clean energy projects increased less than 1% from the previous quarter, and power purchase agreements were 31% lower than in the third quarter of 2024.

ACP CEO Jason Grumet said the unstable policy and regulatory landscape threatens the ability of the U.S. to meet future energy needs:

“The policy chaos at the federal level has seeped into every part of project timelines, stalling growth precisely when we need to meet demand and keep energy prices affordable for American families and businesses.”

He said this might be masked by the impressive numbers of the third quarter, which include:

• • 1,027 MW of new onshore wind;
  • 4,686 MW of storage;
  • 5,982 MW of solar;
  • 30,900 MW of wind, solar and storage installed in the first nine months of 2025, a record; and
  • 186,185 MW of wind, solar and storage in the pipeline of construction or advanced development, also a record.

The numbers within the report reflect a number of continuing trends:

Utility-scale solar continues to lead capacity additions. Onshore wind has long been the leading U.S. renewable, with 157.6 GW of installed capacity as of September, but solar is rapidly catching up and stood at 146.2 GW. The pipeline includes nearly 100 GW of solar but only about 28 GW of land-based wind.

Energy storage capacity continues to trace a sharp growth curve — 32% more additions were recorded in the third quarter of 2025 than in the third quarter of 2024, bringing total deployment to 40,321 MW/112,002 MWh.

The 4.5 GW of capacity added in Texas accounted for 39% of all U.S. clean power additions in the third quarter of 2025, due in large part to a surge in storage installations. Solar and storage additions totaling approximately 2 GW placed California second on the list of states. Only two projects came online in Utah, but they totaled 725 MW of nameplate capacity, which was enough for third place.