Solar growth accelerates in ERCOT and MISO as data centers drive demand

The U.S. is on track for a big jump in solar power over the next two years, and the growth is heaviest in Texas and the Midwest. Federal energy forecasters expect solar generation to grow 21% in 2026 and another 18% in 2027, as the country's overall electricity use climbs as well, pushed up largely by data centers and manufacturing plants rather than homes.

In Texas, the grid operator ERCOT is expected to see solar output grow enough that, in 2026, it will pass coal for the first time on an annual basis, with solar climbing further in 2027. Texas and the Midwest grid (MISO) together account for much of the national solar growth. MISO, which covers a large swath of the central U.S., says it's entering a period of demand growth it hasn't seen in decades, with data centers driving much of the increase. MISO estimates data centers alone could need about 20 gigawatts of power by 2030, a significant jump from its current system-wide peak demand.

For homeowners, this is mostly background context: it signals that the grid supplying your area may be adding more solar power and facing higher overall demand in the coming years, largely from big commercial and industrial users like data centers rather than residential growth. Whether this affects your own electricity costs or reliability will depend on where you live and how your local utility responds to these regional trends.