Charted: America’s Major Source of Renewable Energy Since 2000

Wind turbines generated more electricity in the United States in 2025 than any other renewable source.

Using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the visual above shows U.S. electricity net generation from hydropower, solar, and wind sources, in gigawatt-hours, from 2000 to 2025.

The 25-year story is one of the most dramatic energy transformations in modern industrial history, and it is still accelerating.

Wind generated 464,391 gigawatt-hours of US electricity in 2025 — the most of any renewable source
Solar has grown 59,878% since 2000, from just 493 gigawatt-hours to 295,671 gigawatt-hours, making it the fastest-growing energy technology in the dataset by a wide margin.
Hydroelectric power, once the foundation of US renewable electricity, is now the smallest of the three sources

Wind’s climb from 5,593 gigawatt-hours in 2000 to 464,391 in 2025 represents an 8,204% increase over a quarter century, according to EIA data.

The growth was not sudden.

Wind crossed a historically significant threshold in 2019, surpassing hydroelectric power as the largest renewable source for the first time, producing 295,882 GWh to hydro’s 287,874 GWh.

It has extended that lead every year since.

The record shows only one year-over-year decline across wind’s entire 25-year history.

Output fell from 434,297 GWh in 2022 to 421,141 GWh in 2023, the sole interruption in an otherwise unbroken upward trajectory.