Where Mississippi Gets Its Electricity
Net generation by source · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
Generation mix
| Source | Share | Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 75.7% | 58,674 GWh |
| Coal | 4.7% | 3,665 GWh |
| Nuclear | 13.0% | 10,036 GWh |
| Wind | 0.7% | 514 GWh |
| Solar | 4.2% | 3,228 GWh |
| Hydro | 0.0% | 0 GWh |
| Other | 1.7% | 1,343 GWh |
77.5 TWh generated over the 12 months to May 2026. Shares are of net generation within Mississippi, which is not the same as what the state consumes — power crosses state lines.
Counting rooftop solar
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. Mississippi generated 35 GWh that way. Counting it on both sides of the ratio takes solar from 4.2% to 4.2%.
How the mix has shifted since 2016
| Source | 2016 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 79.7% | 73.9% | −5.7 pts |
| Coal | 8.5% | 5.4% | −3.1 pts |
| Nuclear | 9.4% | 14.7% | +5.3 pts |
| Wind | 0.0% | 0.6% | +0.6 pts |
| Solar | 0.0% | 3.7% | +3.7 pts |
| Hydro | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| Other | 2.5% | 1.7% | −0.8 pts |
Compared with the U.S. and nearby states
Mississippi's generation mix in context
Natural gas supplied 75.7% of Mississippi's electricity generation since June 2025, far higher than the national average of 40.8%. The state ranks 45th for renewable generation among 51 states and DC, with renewables at 6.6% — 18.3 percentage points below the national average of 24.9%. Carbon-free sources, primarily nuclear at 13.0%, accounted for 19.5% of generation.
Over the decade from 2016 to 2025, Mississippi's generation mix shifted significantly. Solar emerged from nothing to reach 3.7% in 2025, while wind grew from zero to 0.6%. Nuclear expanded 5.3 percentage points to 14.7% in 2025. Gas declined 5.8 percentage points and coal fell 3.1 percentage points, though gas remains the dominant source. Renewable generation rose from 2.4% in 2016 to 6.0% in 2025.
Among Mississippi's neighbours, three have higher renewable shares: Arkansas at 13.8%, Tennessee at 12.5%, and Alabama at 8.4%. Louisiana is lower at 5.1%. Solar ranks 24th nationally, the highest of Mississippi's renewable sources, at 4.2% whether counted as utility-scale alone or with rooftop solar included.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›What percentage of Mississippi's electricity comes from renewable energy?
›What percentage of Mississippi's power comes from solar?
›Where does Mississippi get most of its electricity?
›Does Mississippi still burn coal for electricity?
›Is Mississippi getting greener?
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 May 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.