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EIA Estimates Record U.S. Electric Generating Capacity Additions in 2026, with Solar in the Lead

LCG, February 20, 2026--The EIA today issued an "in-brief analysis" that estimates U.S. power plant developers and operators plan to complete a record installation of 86 GW of new, utility-scale electric generating capacity that is connected to the U.S. power grid in 2026. Last year, 53 GW of new capacity was added to the grid, which was the largest capacity installation in a single year since 2002. Thus the estimate of 86 GW of new capacity in 2026 is a whopping 33 GW greater than the year prior. It should be noted that over 20 GW of the 86 GW of new capacity this year is estimated to be completed in December.

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Enhanced Geothermal Systems May Drive Significant Growth in Geothermal Power Generation

LCG, February 19, 2026--The EIA released an "in-brief analysis" today regarding the expected completion of the first, large-scale commercial enhanced geothermal system (EGS) in June 2026, and the significant growth potential for year-round, 24x7, carbon-free, renewable EGS power generation in the United States.

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Industry News

Another Stage 2 Emergency on California Power System

LCG, Jan. 11, 2001The California Independent System Operator declared another Stage 2 electric emergency at 5:00 a.m. this morning, following a Stage 1 called at 3:19 a.m., and both will remain in effect until midnight tonight. Operating reserves needed to maintain reliability of the ISO-controlled grid are forecasted to dip to below five percent for much of the day.

In a Stage 2 yesterday, the state's three investor-owned utilities were asked to shed 1,200 megawatts of load, but Cal-ISO said it wouldn't ask for curtailment until this afternoon. Today's Stage 2 is the third this week, when peak demand has been around 32,500 megawatts.

About 10,600 megawatts of California power plants were offline yesterday because of planned maintenance or forced outages and that was already worse this today. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's daily plant status report said this morning that both units of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant were operating at only 20 percent because of high seas in the Pacific Ocean which could cause kelp to foul the two reactors' cooling water intakes. That takes another 1,760 megawatts off the grid.

After learning of that reduction in resources, Cal-ISO was hit with more forced shutdowns, bringing the total amount of generation offline to more than 13,000 megawatts.

Under a Stage 2 emergency, the utilities curtail power delivery to customers that signed interruptible power contracts in exchange for lower rates. Before last spring, a company may have expected to do without electricity once or twice a year. As demand for electricity has outstripped supply, these interruptions have become an almost daily occurrence.

The Wall Street Journal in its online edition told this morning of a Southern California steel company that suffered 17 interruptions last year and finally closed a mill in December. The paper also noted that citrus growers, who depend on electricity to run irrigation pumps and large fans that keep their trees from freezing, are hard-pressed by the interruptions.

In Silicon Valley, Intel Corp., the world's largest manufacturer of computer chips, said it will quit investing in new plant until the state gets the power supply problem straightened out. The Wall Street said that a survey found that 75 percent of the members of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group either had no backup generators or had insufficient power lined up to meet their needs over the next two or three years.

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