A leading energy think tank says that last month, less than half of the US electricity capacity came from fossil fuels.
The country where President Donald Trump has waged wars on the leading renewable energy sources, solar and wind, hit a new electricity generation low for fossil fuels in March 2025, data from the global energy think tank Ember reveals.
Declining fossil fuels in the US
The Ember data shows that in March 2025, just shy of 50%, fossil fuels accounted for 49.2% of generated electricity.
All-time low for fossil fuel generation
This surpasses the previous low for fossil fuel generation at 51%, which was recorded in April 2024.
As a result, clean energy sources generated the largest amount of electricity in the US last month, 50.8%—a new record.
Solar and wind generation records
It was driven by an increase in solar and wind generation, which, as the largest renewable energy sources, reached a record 24.4% of US electricity generation.
The data also reveals a significant increase in solar generation, which increased by a whopping 37% compared to March 2024, while wind power grew by 12%.
In March 2025, wind and solar generated a record 83 terrawatts of US electricity – this was an increase of 11% compared to the previous all-time high solar and wind generation month in April 2024.
Compared to March 2024, fossil fuel generation declined by 2.5%.
Part of a longer trend
Fossil fuels’ role in US electricity generation has been consistently declining in the past decade in line with the growth of wind and solar.
Ember says that their data should be seen as part of that long-term trend.
Commenting on the analysis, Senior Data Analyst at Ember, Nicolas Fulghum said:
“This clearly demonstrates the growing role of wind and solar in the US energy system. This is a first signal that the US is approaching a tipping point where clean power takes the lead over fossil generation, and where the importance of coal and gas inevitably starts to fade.”
The rise of wind and solar in the US
Ten years ago, in March 2015, fossil fuels accounted for 65% of total electricity – with wind and solar at a meagre 5.7%. Since then, their share has more than quadrupled.
Energy analysts forecast that in 2025 wind and solar is expected to account for more than half of newly added electricity sources in the US.
Analyses have found that in 2024, solar energy was the fastest-growing electricity source in the US. This energy technology has come a long way since March 2015, when it only accounted for 1% of electricity generation in the US.
Will Trump change the energy trajectory?
While in the past decade the US energy trajectory have only been heading in one direction with declining share of fossil fuels with increasing share of renewable energy.
Trump’s energy priorities
But Trump’s energy policies aim to reset energy priorities by favoring fossil fuels and making conditions for renewable energy more difficult.
Projects in the firing line
In the short term, there is no doubt that renewable energy projects on federal lands will suffer. Projects initiated by the Biden Administration could be in the firing line.
For offshore wind, it is unlikely that many new permits, if any, would be permitted by the Trump Administration. On the contrary, repealing already announced and approved projects is a clear possibility.
But outside that the picture remains more unclear.
While not commenting on the political environment, Fulghum underlined that the direction of travel is clear: “The reality on the ground is not one of a return to fossil fuels in the US, it’s the continued growth of solar and wind power that will be the dominant driver of electricity generation growth in the US.”
The future of the Inflation Reduction Act
Individual states are in charge of their own energy decisions. Many Republican states are also the leading states when it comes to adding renewable energy capacity.
The Biden Administration’s landmark piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are predominantly funding clean energy projects in Republican rather than Democratic states.
The White House and the Republican controlled Congress have not yet revealed any information on to what degree they would look to repeal the IRA.
The tariffs
This week, Trump announced unprecedented wide-ranging tariffs.
This is a rapidly moving and developing story, and it is likely that by the time you read this it would all be changed again.
These tariffs will hit both fossil fuels and clean energy projects due to the nature of globalised supply chains.
Extra tariffs on solar panels from China, wind turbines from Europe and oil and gas from Canada will have profound effects.
Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.