Diverse electricity generation connected to the power grid.

U.S. Electricity: Generation, Capacity and Sales

How power is produced, balanced and sold.

Agenda

01 Generation mix

02 Generation technologies

03 Capacity and grid operations

04 Retail electricity sales

Fossil fuels supplied 58% of utility-scale generation

Data: your briefEach value is stated in the material supplied for this deck.

Category	Generation share (percent)
Fossil fuels	58
Nuclear	18
Renewables	24

Natural gas alone produced about 41% of utility-scale generation.

Gas turbines help natural gas follow changing demand

Flexible natural gas.

Natural gas powers steam turbines and gas turbines.

Combined-cycle plants can follow demand changes quickly.

Hydro turbines convert flowing water into electricity

Water turns turbines.

Conventional hydropower provided about 6% of utility-scale generation in 2025.

Output fluctuates with precipitation patterns.

Wind is the largest renewable generation source

Wind converts motion.

Wind supplied about 11% of utility-scale generation in 2025.

Its output depends on available wind resources.

Solar photovoltaics convert sunlight directly into electricity

Utility-scale solar photovoltaic panels.

Direct solar conversion.

Nearly all solar electric generation came from photovoltaic systems.

Small-scale rooftop PV is the leading distributed resource.

Several minor sources support specialized grid needs

$Energy storage and supporting electricity infrastructure.$

Other grid resources.

Other sources include pumped storage, batteries, hydrogen and purchased steam.

Other gases and sources supplied about 0.2% in 2025.

Capacity enables the grid to balance supply and demand

1

Install capacity.

Plants provide maximum power under specified conditions.

2

Dispatch output.

Operators call on plants as demand changes.

3

Balance instantly.

Supply must meet grid demand every moment.

Grid operators balancing electricity supply and demand.

Generators serve base, intermediate and peak demand

Base load.

Runs nearly continuously for minimum system demand.

Intermediate load.

Varies output to follow demand changes.

Peak load.

Supplies short periods of highest demand.

Natural gas holds the largest capacity share

Data: your briefEach value is stated in the material supplied for this deck.

Category	Capacity share (percent)
Natural gas	40
Renewables	31.5
Coal	13.3
Nuclear	7.7
Petroleum	5.8
Other sources	5.4

Total utility-scale capacity reached 1,280,799 MW at year-end.

Residential and commercial customers each accounted for 37% of sales

Data: your briefEach value is stated in the material supplied for this deck.

Category	Retail sales (billion kWh)
Residential	1515
Commercial	1493
Industrial	1042
Transportation	7

Retail sales were about 4,058 billion kWh in 2025.

Electricity reaches customers through distinct provider models

Full-service providers.

Sell bundled energy and delivery services to end users.

Other providers.

Market electricity or provide delivery-related services.

Generation, Capacity, Sales

Use each measure to understand the U.S. electricity system.