US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

Why demand surged and how big it really was

• Several commenters note the article never explains why demand rose; many assume data centers/LLMs plus general economic growth.
• The 3.1% increase is framed as the “fourth largest” in a decade; some argue that just means “slightly above average,” not a true “surge.”
• Jevons paradox / induced demand is raised: cheaper or cleaner electricity may simply enable more total use rather than reduce it.

Solar’s contribution and headline skepticism

• Core stat: solar output grew 83 TWh, covering 61% of the incremental 135 TWh demand, not 61% of total US demand.
• Multiple comments call the headline and framing misleading or “lying,” accusing the outlet (and Ember) of cherry‑picking and blurring generation vs capacity and GW vs GWh.
• Others defend the number as referring correctly to additional generation, but agree the wording invites misinterpretation.

Intermittency, storage, and grid stability

• Broad agreement that solar is cheap, fast to deploy, and highly distributed, but cannot stand alone due to nighttime and weather variability.
• Debate over using “negative price” surplus power for things like synthetic fuels, aluminum, or data centers: capital‑intensive loads can’t profitably sit idle most of the time.
• Several stress that high solar penetration requires grid‑scale storage, more transmission, and sophisticated coordination; current US interconnection queues and equipment backlogs are a bottleneck.
• Technical subthread on grid dynamics: transition from synchronous machines (coal/gas/nuclear) to inverter‑based renewables raises challenges for inertia, fault current, and frequency control; grid‑forming inverters, batteries, and synchronous condensers are proposed mitigations.

Home solar, batteries, and policy fairness

• Experiences vary widely by region: in parts of Europe and Australia, install is fast and relatively cheap; in the US, soft costs, permitting, and finance-driven business models dominate.
• Time‑of‑use pricing, smart appliances, and small home batteries are seen as powerful tools to align demand with solar output; examples from Australia, UK, and some US states.
• Tension over equity: critics argue net metering and using the grid as a “free backup” effectively subsidize relatively wealthy solar owners at the expense of non‑solar customers.
• Others respond that early subsidies and affluent adopters drove down solar costs for everyone and accelerated decarbonization.

Land use and agriculture

• Concern that too much productive farmland is being converted to solar; preference for rooftops, parking lots, and “unproductive” land.
• Counterpoints: agrivoltaics can combine crops and panels; large areas now used for corn ethanol could theoretically host enough solar to power the US grid.

Climate impact and growth vs degrowth

• Some emphasize that any increase in total demand not covered 100% by renewables means more fossil burning; they see current trends as incompatible with climate goals.
• Others argue rising energy use is tied to prosperity and re‑industrialization; they advocate “build everything” (solar, wind, nuclear, gas with reduced coal) plus transmission, rather than degrowth.