US renewable boom passes key milestone in April

美国可再生能源热潮在四月跨越关键里程碑

When last we looked at the state of the US grid, the ongoing explosion in solar energy had turned it into a major contributor, but one that still lagged well behind fossil-fuel-powered generation. So it was a bit of a surprise when preliminary data suggested that May 2026 saw solar power pass coal-fired generation for the first time in the US.

当我们上次审视美国电网状况时，太阳能的持续爆发式增长已使其成为主要能源贡献者，但其发电量仍远落后于化石燃料发电。因此，当初步数据表明 2026 年 5 月美国太阳能发电量首次超过燃煤发电量时，这着实令人感到意外。

Now, with the official release of April grid data by the Energy Information Administration, we can see that production of solar electricity had passed coal a month earlier—with a bit of a caveat. The caveat being that a substantial chunk of that solar production never reached the grid, since it’s produced by rooftop installations and used in the building they sit atop.

现在，随着美国能源信息署（EIA）正式发布 4 月份的电网数据，我们可以看到太阳能发电量实际上在一个月前就已经超过了煤炭——不过有一个小前提。这个前提是，很大一部分太阳能发电量并未进入电网，因为它们是由屋顶装置产生并直接供所在建筑物使用的。

The situation heading into April/May was pretty simple. After a brief resurgence last year, coal use resumed its decline, despite repeated government attempts to prop it up. Meanwhile, solar continued its rapid growth, driven by its position as the cheapest way to add generating capacity in most of the US. But this growth started from a small base, and the early months of the year are marked by seasonally low solar production. As a result, growth above 20 percent year over year still left solar providing only 6 percent of the power on the US grid, a sharp contrast to coal’s 16 percent.

进入 4 月/5 月的情况非常简单。尽管政府多次尝试扶持，煤炭使用量在去年短暂回升后又恢复了下降趋势。与此同时，太阳能凭借其在美国大部分地区作为增加发电能力最廉价方式的地位，继续保持快速增长。但这种增长基数较小，且年初几个月通常是太阳能发电的季节性低谷。因此，尽管同比增长超过 20%，太阳能在美国电网中的占比仍仅为 6%，与煤炭 16% 的占比形成鲜明对比。

The longer days in April, however, will naturally boost solar’s production, and that will combine with all the new installations that tend to be completed near the end of the year. Add in coal’s continuing decline, and the gap between the two closed considerably. One year ago in April, coal provided 14 percent of the power on the grid, and solar just 8.3 percent. The equivalent numbers for 2026 are 12 percent and 9.4 percent. So, there’s still a gap, but it’s considerably smaller.

然而，4 月份日照时间的延长自然会提升太阳能产量，再加上年底前通常会完成的大量新装机容量，以及煤炭发电的持续萎缩，两者之间的差距显著缩小。一年前的 4 月，煤炭提供了电网 14% 的电力，而太阳能仅为 8.3%。2026 年的相应数据分别为 12% 和 9.4%。因此，差距依然存在，但已经缩小了很多。

And this year, that gap was filled entirely by smaller-scale solar installations, like the ones on people’s rooftops. Much of the energy that’s generated through small-scale solar never reaches the grid, since it’s consumed at the location in which it’s generated. Nevertheless, the EIA attempts to estimate the production derived from these installations.

今年，这一差距完全由小型太阳能装置（如人们屋顶上的设备）填补。通过小型太阳能产生的能源中，很大一部分从未进入电网，因为它们在产生地就被消耗掉了。尽管如此，EIA 还是尝试对这些装置的发电量进行了估算。

The April numbers show that coal was used to generate about 40 Terawatt-hours of electricity. Utility-scale solar produced 31, while small-scale photovoltaic added another 9.8. That was enough to inch solar generation ahead. If you combine all photovoltaic with wind and hydro, renewables produced 117 TW-hr, nearly triple the amount of power produced using coal, and nearly as much as the 124 TW-hr produced using natural gas.

4 月份的数据显示，煤炭发电量约为 40 太瓦时（TWh）。公用事业规模的太阳能发电量为 31 太瓦时，而小型光伏发电增加了 9.8 太瓦时。这足以让太阳能发电总量实现微弱领先。如果将所有光伏发电与风能和水能结合起来，可再生能源总发电量达到 117 太瓦时，几乎是煤炭发电量的三倍，也几乎与天然气发电的 124 太瓦时持平。

We’re probably a few years off from the point where solar remains ahead of coal for the entire year. But solar’s growth and the continued decline of coal mean that it’s likely that solar will be a larger source of power for the entirety of the summer and will remain so indefinitely, barring an unprecedented surge in demand. We’ll have a better look at solar’s performance in May in roughly a month, when the final Energy Information Administration numbers are available.

我们距离太阳能全年发电量持续领先煤炭可能还有几年时间。但太阳能的增长和煤炭的持续衰退意味着，除非需求出现前所未有的激增，否则太阳能很可能在整个夏季成为更大的电力来源，并将长期保持这一地位。大约一个月后，当能源信息署发布最终数据时，我们将能更清楚地了解太阳能在 5 月份的表现。