Climate Central reports that solar and wind were used to generate 19% of the total electricity produced in the U.S. in 2025. The growth of solar and wind energy in recent years has been driven by cost reductions and improved technology, said Daniel Cohan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Floating](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/floating-solar-panels-farm-power-plant-1024x576.jpg\")
Floating solar panels next to a solar farm (iStock image)<\/p>\n
\u201cSolar and wind are now the cheapest sources of new electricity,\u201d Cohan said. \u201cThey also avoid emissions from power plants, which are the second-leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and the main source of sulfur pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Texas, California, Florida, Iowa and Illinois saw the largest 10-year growth in combined solar and wind generation from 2016 to 2025, Climate Central\u2019s report found, with Florida\u2019s growth exclusively due to its use of solar power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Climate Central reports that Florida generated 30,131 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar energy in 2025, behind only California\u2019s 90,103 GWh and Texas producing 64,073 GWh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cohan said Florida, also known as the Sunshine State, has abundant sunshine, a competitive market for solar rooftops and growing amounts of solar farms. This makes it easier for Florida to be ranked high in terms of solar energy generation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Florida now has enough installed solar capacity to power more than\u202f2.4 million homes statewide\u202fand has seen\u202fmore than 286,000 solar systems installed, according to the\u202fFlorida Solar Energy Industries Association (FlaSEIA).<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor Florida homeowners, it\u2019s about more than just clean energy \u2013 it\u2019s about energy independence and affordability,\u201d said Laura LaRosa, membership and communications specialist with FlaSEIA.<\/p>\n LaRosa said rising electricity costs are pushing more Floridians to adopt solar to lock in lower, more predictable energy bills. Solar also reduces reliance on the traditional power grid, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGoing without power for extended periods simply isn\u2019t an option for many families,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tim Michaud, an energy consultant with the solar energy company Tampa Bay Solar<\/a>, said solar adoption in Florida is still at an early stage, with only about 4% of homes currently using solar. However, Michaud said that number is expected to grow as homeowners recognize financial benefits and the stability that solar systems provide during hurricane-related outages when paired with battery storage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michaud said the financial appeal of solar has become even stronger as electricity prices continue to rise across Florida. Incentives such as Florida\u2019s solar sales tax and property tax exemption can make installing solar more affordable, while some utilities have net metering programs that allow excess energy to be sent back to the grid in exchange for credits on future bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n The biggest benefit of solar, Michaud said, \u201cis that it can eliminate your electric bill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There are some drawbacks to Florida\u2019s transition to renewable sources. Florida relies only on solar power for renewable energy and not also wind. Cohan said the state also has \u201carduous review and permitting processes for solar farms larger than 75 megawatts, so it doesn\u2019t get as many large solar farms as some other states.\u201d<\/p>\n The growth in renewable energy comes as electricity demand continues to increase. Electricity demand in the U.S. is expected to grow by 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050,as compared to 2023, according to data by ICF International<\/a>, a global advisory and technology services provider\u00a0<\/p>\n With data centers also increasing demand for electricity, the U.S. has not seen electricity demand grow this quickly since 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFossil fuels are still the leading source of electricity, but most of the growth is coming from solar, wind and batteries,\u201d Cohan said. \u201cHowever, the transition is happening nowhere near fast enough to protect our air and climate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Climate Central reports that the electric power sector now produces 25% of the heat-trapping pollution in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRenewable resources reduce the need to burn fossil fuels that cause those emissions,\u201d Cohan said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Sol Moyano is a senior majoring in multimedia journalism at FAU who is reporting for The Invading Sea in the spring 2026 semester.\u00a0Banner photo: X\u00a0<\/p>\n Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here<\/a>. To support The Invading Sea, click here<\/a> to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe<\/a>. To learn more about coral bleaching, watch the short video below.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Sol Moyano, The Invading Sea As the use of renewable energy keeps growing in the U.S., Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4535,103494,103479,103495,28,30,29,103496,28752,22370,29184,58037,5537,103497],"class_list":{"0":"post-231150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-climate-central","10":"tag-electricity-demand","11":"tag-energy-bills","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-florida-solar-energy-industries-association","16":"tag-greenhouse-gas-emissions","17":"tag-power-plants","18":"tag-renewable-energy","19":"tag-solar","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-wind-generation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/solar-panel-install-rooftop-1024x576.jpg\")
A solar panel being installed on a rooftop (iStock image)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Martin-power-plant-solar-1024x576.jpg\")
A solar array and natural gas power plant in Martin County (iStock image)<\/p>\n