Where Nebraska Gets Its Electricity
Net generation by source · 12-month average, September 2025 – August 2026.
Generation mix
| Source | Share | Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 3.9% | 1,584 GWh |
| Coal | 46.2% | 18,731 GWh |
| Nuclear | 16.8% | 6,836 GWh |
| Wind | 28.0% | 11,357 GWh |
| Solar | 0.7% | 288 GWh |
| Hydro | 3.4% | 1,380 GWh |
| Other | 1.0% | 395 GWh |
40.6 TWh generated over the 12 months to August 2026. Shares are of net generation within Nebraska, 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. Nebraska generated 68 GWh that way. Counting it on both sides of the ratio takes solar from 0.7% to 0.9%.
How the mix has shifted since 2001
| Source | 2001 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 1.1% | 3.2% | +2.1 pts |
| Coal | 66.4% | 45.6% | −20.8 pts |
| Nuclear | 28.6% | 17.2% | −11.4 pts |
| Wind | 0.0% | 29.1% | +29.1 pts |
| Solar | 0.0% | 0.6% | +0.6 pts |
| Hydro | 3.7% | 2.9% | −0.8 pts |
| Other | 0.1% | 1.3% | +1.2 pts |
Compared with the U.S. and nearby states
Nebraska's generation mix in context
Coal supplied 46.2% of Nebraska's electricity generation in the twelve months from September 2025 to August 2026, making it the largest source. Nuclear accounted for 16.8%, wind for 28%, and the remainder came from gas, hydro, solar and other sources. Renewables as a whole made up 32.2% of generation, placing Nebraska 20th of the 50 states and DC. Carbon-free sources — renewables and nuclear together — supplied 49.1%. Solar contributed 0.7% of utility-scale generation; including rooftop solar, the share rises to 0.9%, ranking Nebraska 46th among the states.
The long-run shift has been dramatic. Renewable generation grew from 3.8% in 2001 to 32.8% in 2025, a change of 29 percentage points driven almost entirely by wind, which rose from zero to 29.1% across those years. Coal fell from 66.4% to 45.6%, while nuclear declined from 28.6% to 17.2%. Gas inched up from 1.1% to 3.2%.
Nebraska's renewable share exceeds the national figure by 6.8 percentage points — the country generated 25.4% of its electricity from renewables — but lags most neighbours. Five of the six bordering states have higher renewable shares: South Dakota leads at 81.8%, followed by Iowa at 61.4%, Kansas at 50.7%, Colorado at 48.7%, and Wyoming at 34.4%. Missouri alone, at 15.5%, sits below Nebraska.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›What percentage of Nebraska's electricity comes from renewable energy?
›What percentage of Nebraska's power comes from solar?
›Where does Nebraska get most of its electricity?
›Does Nebraska still burn coal for electricity?
›Is Nebraska 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 August 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.