Utah’s sunny climate has begun to pay off in the renewable energy sector.
In May — for the first time ever — solar generation topped any other single source of power in the Beehive State. Utah’s 4,500 megawatts (MW) of installed solar capacity generated nearly a full terawatt-hour of electricity in May, accounting for 33 percent of the power generated in the state, according to data compiled by Ember Energy, a global energy think tank based in London.
A terawatt-hour of solar generation is enough electricity to power approximately 1.1 million average U.S. homes for one month — slightly fewer than the number of residences in Utah. That means that solar power alone could come close to lighting the state’s homes if all the power stayed in Utah.
The combination of two separate fuels — natural gas at 32 percent of generated power and coal (28 percent) — still gives fossil fuels the edge in total electrical output. Wind power now produces about 2 percent of the state’s output.
As recently as 2017, coal accounted for between 64 percent and 78 percent of Utah power generation, depending on the time of the year. In 2023, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reported the share dropped to less than 50 percent and the May report found it fell below one-third.
Solar accounts for three-fourths of the new power generation capacity added in Utah since 2015, according to the SEIA. The state, which averages 238 sunny days annually, beating the national average of 205, now has more than 50 large utility-scale solar installations.
Utah’s ability to store power for as-needed distribution is also growing, now nearing 800 megawatt-hours. The battery storage capacity ranks the state 16th in the nation. Most of the newer solar farms now include storage battery facilities.
The significant growth in Utah solar power generation can be attributed to the recent commissioning and commercial startup of a bevy of major plants. The Green River Energy Center in Emery County became operational in early spring of this year with 400 MW of solar generation paired with 400 MW of battery storage. The Faraday Solar installation in Utah County started providing power in fall 2025. It generates up to 685 MW to support the local data center owned by Meta, operator of Facebook and Instagram.
The Hornshadow Solar II farm, with a capacity of 200 MW, began sending power to the grid a year ago and the 80 MW Elektron Solar Project in Tooele County came online just prior to that.
It should be noted that power generation does not necessarily equal power usage by homes and businesses. A share of Utah-generated electricity is exported to other states, while some of the solar plants serve a single customer, such as Meta’s Utah County plant.
A SEIA fact sheet said that solar energy supports nearly 8,000 jobs in Utah. The state is home to 132 solar companies, including 54 solar developers and 23 solar manufacturers. In 2025, investors pledged $1.5 billion to Utah’s solar industry, the fact sheet said.
Although May’s milestone may not be repeated every month, planned and under-construction solar power plants assure Utahns that renewable energy is here to stay. More than half of the new utility-scale electricity generation added to the nation’s grid this year is expected to come from solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The country is projected to add another 43.4 gigawatts of solar, 24.3 gigawatts of battery storage, and 11.8 gigawatts of new wind power in 2026, the administration said. Natural gas generation is expected to grow just 6.3 gigawatts, while coal generation will decrease.
“We’re going to see milestones like this increasingly happen,” Logan Mitchell, a climate scientist and energy analyst with Utah Clean Energy, told climate-change news website Grist. “Wind plus solar is on a tear right now. We may have achieved liftoff.”
