Big Impact of Small Solar Quarterly Update: 2026 Q1

  • Jun 19, 2026
  • Ingrid Behrsin
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  • Charts & Graphs
  • Energy Democracy
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    People installing rooftop solar panels

    The quarterly Big Impact of Small Solar series aims to show just how much distributed, small-scale (community, residential, and commercial) solar is contributing to new power capacity additions in the United States. Local, small solar and storage projects, when added together, can have a big impact on the energy transition!

    Key takeaways:

    • Solar continues to be the dominant source of new electricity capacity in the U.S., with 87 percent of new capacity in Q1 from large and small solar.
    • Distributed solar kept up its relatively steady pace, with over 1.6 gigawatts of new capacity this quarter.
    • Over 1.1 gigawatt-hours of distributed storage was added in Q1.

    The chart below illustrates the past two years of electric power capacity additions in the U.S., disaggregated by energy source, quarterly.

    Stacked bar chart titled 'New Electric Power Capacity (U.S.)' showing quarterly new electric capacity additions in megawatts AC from 2024 Q2 through 2026 Q1. Each bar is divided into five categories: Fossil (gray), Community Solar (light orange), Other Small Solar (dark red), Big Solar (tan, the largest segment in every quarter), and Wind (teal). Total quarterly capacity ranges from about 7,600 MW (2024 Q3) to roughly 17,000 MW (2024 Q4). Big Solar consistently makes up the majority of new capacity each quarter, with Other Small Solar additions ranging from about 1,325 to 1,632 MW and Community Solar ranging from about 148 to 637 MW. Data sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), dated June 16, 2026. Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) logo in the bottom left.

    For timely updates from the Energy Democracy Initiative, follow John Farrell on Bluesky or Twitter, and subscribe to the Energy Democracy newsletter.

    Featured Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

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