Where Pennsylvania Gets Its Electricity
Net generation by source · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
Generation mix
| Source | Share | Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 57.8% | 141,622 GWh |
| Coal | 7.2% | 17,553 GWh |
| Nuclear | 30.7% | 75,146 GWh |
| Wind | 1.4% | 3,469 GWh |
| Solar | 0.8% | 2,029 GWh |
| Hydro | 1.0% | 2,504 GWh |
| Other | 1.0% | 2,510 GWh |
244.8 TWh generated over the 12 months to May 2026. Shares are of net generation within Pennsylvania, 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. Pennsylvania generated 1,639 GWh that way. Counting it on both sides of the ratio takes solar from 0.8% to 1.5%.
How the mix has shifted since 2016
| Source | 2016 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 31.6% | 58.3% | +26.6 pts |
| Coal | 25.4% | 7.1% | −18.3 pts |
| Nuclear | 38.6% | 30.4% | −8.1 pts |
| Wind | 1.6% | 1.5% | −0.2 pts |
| Solar | 0.0% | 0.8% | +0.7 pts |
| Hydro | 1.1% | 1.1% | — |
| Other | 1.6% | 0.9% | −0.7 pts |
Compared with the U.S. and nearby states
| Where | Renewable | Carbon-free | Largest source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 3.8% | 34.5% | Natural gas 57.8% |
| U.S. average | 24.9% | 42.6% | Natural gas 40.8% |
| New York | 29.0% | 49.5% | Natural gas |
| Maryland | 10.8% | 49.0% | Natural gas |
| Ohio | 8.1% | 19.9% | Natural gas |
| West Virginia | 5.9% | 5.9% | Coal |
| New Jersey | 4.3% | 49.4% | Natural gas |
| Delaware | 4.1% | 4.1% | Natural gas |
Pennsylvania's generation mix in context
Natural gas supplied 57.8% of Pennsylvania's electricity generation from June 2025 to May 2026, making it the largest source by a wide margin. Nuclear power accounted for 30.7% of generation, pushing carbon-free sources to 34.5% of the total. Renewables contributed 3.8%, well below the national average of 24.9%. Within renewables, solar represented 0.8% of generation when counting utility-scale plants alone, or 1.5% when including rooftop solar. Wind generated 1.4%, hydro 1%, and geothermal and biomass together with other sources made up the remaining 1%.
The state's renewable share ranked 50th among 51 states and DC, and its solar share ranked 45th. All six neighbouring states—New York, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware—generated higher shares of renewable electricity. Nationally, natural gas also led but at 40.8%, while renewables reached 24.9% and carbon-free generation totaled 42.6%. Pennsylvania's fossil fuel share of 65.4% was significantly higher than the national figure.
Over the decade from 2016 to 2025, Pennsylvania's generation mix shifted dramatically away from coal and toward gas. Coal fell from 25.4% in 2016 to 7.1% in 2025, a decline of 18.3 percentage points. Natural gas rose from 31.6% to 58.3%, gaining 26.7 points. Nuclear power slipped from 38.6% in 2016 to 30.4% in 2025, a drop of 8.2 points. Solar grew from essentially nothing to 0.8%, while the renewable share remained flat at 3.9% in both years, held back by the decline in other renewable generation.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›What percentage of Pennsylvania's electricity comes from renewable energy?
›What percentage of Pennsylvania's power comes from solar?
›Where does Pennsylvania get most of its electricity?
›Does Pennsylvania still burn coal for electricity?
›Is Pennsylvania 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.