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Where Alaska Gets Its Electricity

Name: Alaska Electricity Generation by Fuel Source
Creator: U.S. Energy Information Administration
License: https://www.eia.gov/about/copyrights_reuse.php

Net generation by source · 12-month average, July 2025 – June 2026.

Renewable

33.8%

20th highest of 51

Carbon-free

33.8%

Renewables plus nuclear

Largest source

Natural gas

37.5%

Generation mix

37%

32%

18%

Alaska electricity generation by source, July 2025 – June 2026
Source	Share	Generation
Natural gas	37.5%	2,526 GWh
Coal	10.9%	735 GWh
Nuclear	0.0%	0 GWh
Wind	1.5%	98 GWh
Solar	0.0%	0 GWh
Hydro	31.8%	2,141 GWh
Other	18.4%	1,242 GWh

6.7 TWh generated over the 12 months to June 2026. Shares are of net generation within Alaska, which is not the same as what the state consumes — power crosses state lines.

Counting rooftop solar

Utility-scale solar

0.0%

Including rooftop

0.3%

EIA reports small-scale solar — mostly rooftop panels on homes and businesses — separately, and leaves it out of the state generation total that the mix above is a share of. Alaska generated 24 GWh that way. Counting it on both sides of the ratio takes solar from 0.0% to 0.3%.

How the mix has shifted since 2001

Share of generation by source in 2001 and 2025
Source	2001	2025	Change
Natural gas	57.8%	38.1%	−19.6 pts
Coal	8.4%	12.3%	+3.9 pts
Nuclear	0.0%	0.0%	—
Wind	0.0%	1.7%	+1.7 pts
Solar	0.0%	0.0%	—
Hydro	20.0%	28.7%	+8.8 pts
Other	13.9%	19.2%	+5.3 pts

Compared with the U.S.

Where	Renewable	Carbon-free	Largest source
Alaska	33.8%	33.8%	Natural gas 37.5%
U.S. average	25.2%	42.9%	Natural gas 40.7%

Alaska's generation mix in context

Natural gas supplied 38% of Alaska's electricity generation since June 2025, making it the largest source. Renewable sources accounted for 33.1% of generation, while carbon-free sources also made up 33.1%, reflecting that Alaska has no nuclear generation. Fossil fuels together supplied 66.3% of the total. Solar generation was minimal: utility-scale solar contributed 0%, though rooftop solar brought the total solar share to 0.3% when included.

Alaska's renewable share ranked 20th among the 51 states and DC with generation data, and its solar share ranked 49th. Compared with the national mix, Alaska generated a substantially higher proportion of renewable electricity—8.2 percentage points above the national renewable share of 24.9%. The state's natural gas share was 2.8 percentage points lower than the national figure of 40.8%, while coal made up 11% of generation against a national share of 15.8%.

Over the long run since 2001, Alaska's generation mix has shifted toward renewables and away from natural gas. Renewable generation grew from 20% in 2001 to 31.1% in 2025, driven largely by hydroelectric generation rising from 20% to 28.7% and wind emerging from zero to 1.7% in 2025. Natural gas declined sharply from 57.8% in 2001 to 38.1% in 2025, while coal increased from 8.4% to 12.3% over the same span.

Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.

Frequently asked questions

›What percentage of Alaska's electricity comes from renewable energy?

33.8% of the electricity generated in Alaska comes from renewable sources — wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass — over the 12 months to June 2026. That compares with 25.2% nationally. Counting nuclear as well, 33.8% of Alaska's generation is carbon-free.

›What percentage of Alaska's power comes from solar?

Utility-scale solar farms supply 0.0% of Alaska's electricity generation. Adding small-scale rooftop solar, which EIA reports separately and leaves out of the state total, takes it to 0.3%. Nationally, utility-scale solar is 7.3%.

›Where does Alaska get most of its electricity?

Natural gas is the largest single source of electricity generated in Alaska, at 37.5% of the total. The rest breaks down as coal 10.9%, wind 1.5%, hydro 31.8%, other 18.4%.

›Does Alaska still burn coal for electricity?

Yes. Coal supplies 10.9% of Alaska's electricity generation, compared with 15.6% nationally. In 2001 it was 8.4%, so the share has risen since.

›Is Alaska getting greener?

Renewables have gone from 20.0% of Alaska's generation in 2001 to 31.1% in 2025, a rise of 11.1 percentage points. Over the same period coal went from 8.4% to 12.3% and natural gas from 57.8% to 38.1%.

How this is measured

Figures are net generation reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration for all sectors — utilities, independent power producers, and industrial and commercial plants that generate their own power. Shares are of the 12 months to June 2026, rather than a single month, because generation is strongly seasonal: solar peaks in summer and hydro with the spring melt, so one month says more about the weather than about the grid.

“Other” is the reported total minus the six named sources, so the shares add to exactly 100%. It holds geothermal, biomass, petroleum, other gases, and pumped storage — the last of which consumes more electricity than it returns, and so can be negative. Geothermal and biomass are renewable, which is why the renewable share above is slightly larger than wind, solar and hydro added together.

This is generation, not consumption. Electricity crosses state lines freely, so a state can generate more than it uses or rely on imports for a large part of its supply; neither shows up here.