The use of solar energy is increasing in the United States, and Utah is no exception.
Utah generated more energy from solar than any other type of energy in May, according to data released by Ember.
Utah’s ideal conditions for solar generation, available land for energy and transmission projects, and rich mineral deposits have led to recent expansion of the renewable energy industry throughout the state.
“Federally, people are taking notice of what we do in Utah,” Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, said while meeting with industry leaders and community stakeholders at the Horseshoe Solar Farm on Monday.
Maloy said implementing energy reform is a bipartisan issue among the American people.
“This is one of the things that the American public has been very clear that they want,” Maloy said. “Everybody agrees it needs to be done.”
However, while the use of renewable energy in Utah grows, it faces competition with gas and coal energy production, which both maintain terawatt generation just slightly below solar energy.
The competition is heightened by recent changes to renewable energy subsidies under the Trump administration that scaled back federal support for the renewable energy industry.
Utah’s solar generation eclipsed all other electricity sources for the first time ever in May, the culmination of a slow but steady years-long shift away from coal. Energy experts are calling it a win for the environment and the state’s economy.
Photovoltaic panels in Utah produced nearly 1 terawatt hour in May 2026. That represented nearly a third of all electricity generated in the state that month, according to data from Ember, a global energy think tank. Natural gas generated 32 percent, coal generated 28 percent, and wind 2 percent.
“The trend of more and more solar in Utah is wonderful news for air quality, it’s wonderful news for the climate, and it’s wonderful news for jobs and the economy,” said Dan Schroeder, a physics professor at Weber State University who regularly checks energy data.
Schroeder attributes the trend to several large solar farms coming online in recent years. The 2,500-acre Green River Energy Center in the central part of the state became operational this spring, and includes 400 megawatts of solar generation and 400 megawatts of battery storage. Excelsior Energy Capital’s Faraday Solar project in Utah County, the state’s second-largest county, started providing up to 685 megawatts for the Meta data center there last fall. The Elektron Solar Project, an 80-megawatt photovoltaic farm, began sending electricity to Salt Lake City, Park City, and Summit County in June 2024.