Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid

Solar just pulled a power move—up 35% and now beating hydro—while U.S. electricity demand jumped and coal made a surprise cameo. Cue the comment brawl. One camp is cheering the math: you can’t fight economics, even with policy turbulence. Another is side‑eyeing the coal bump and the administration’s push to keep some plants on standby, blaming natural‑gas export green lights and hardware delays for the fossil flashback.

Hydro diehards showed up with dam memes and confusion, arguing the Grand Coulee should crank harder—then immediately sparked a nerd skirmish over units (“MW vs GW”) as fact‑checkers descended. The vibe turned extra spicy when someone dropped Alec Watson’s video—“You are being misled about renewable energy technology”—and the thread split between we’ve been duped and we’ve been improving all along. Meanwhile, fossil fans flexed with “record oil highs” like it’s Friday night scoreboard.

Optimists pointed to 2026: 43 gigawatts of new solar plus 12 of wind (offshore included), basically shouting the sun’s only getting hotter in market terms. Then came the philosophical bomb: a commenter compared climate progress to how economics pushed abolition—stirring debate, discomfort, and a thousand replies. Through it all, everyone agrees on this: more electrified stuff (heat pumps, EVs, data centers) means we need more juice, and the grid’s makeover won’t be drama-free.