Where Virginia Gets Its Electricity
Net generation by source · 12-month average, July 2025 – June 2026.
Generation mix
| Source | Share | Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 56.6% | 59,490 GWh |
| Coal | 3.6% | 3,803 GWh |
| Nuclear | 26.5% | 27,844 GWh |
| Wind | 0.0% | 48 GWh |
| Solar | 9.2% | 9,651 GWh |
| Hydro | 1.1% | 1,139 GWh |
| Other | 3.0% | 3,132 GWh |
105.1 TWh generated over the 12 months to June 2026. Shares are of net generation within Virginia, 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. Virginia generated 1,109 GWh that way. Counting it on both sides of the ratio takes solar from 9.2% to 10.1%.
How the mix has shifted since 2001
| Source | 2001 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 5.7% | 57.3% | +51.6 pts |
| Coal | 51.0% | 3.4% | −47.6 pts |
| Nuclear | 34.8% | 26.6% | −8.1 pts |
| Wind | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| Solar | 0.0% | 8.6% | +8.6 pts |
| Hydro | 1.4% | 1.2% | −0.2 pts |
| Other | 7.2% | 2.9% | −4.3 pts |
Compared with the U.S. and nearby states
| Where | Renewable | Carbon-free | Largest source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 13.8% | 40.3% | Natural gas 56.6% |
| U.S. average | 25.2% | 42.9% | Natural gas 40.7% |
| District of Columbia | 53.5% | 53.5% | Other |
| North Carolina | 14.3% | 45.0% | Natural gas |
| Tennessee | 12.5% | 58.6% | Nuclear |
| Maryland | 10.6% | 48.8% | Natural gas |
| Kentucky | 8.7% | 8.7% | Coal |
| West Virginia | 6.0% | 6.0% | Coal |
Virginia's generation mix in context
Natural gas supplied 56.6% of Virginia's electricity generation in the twelve months ending May 2026, making it by far the largest source. Nuclear power was the second-largest, providing 26.7%. Together with renewables and other sources, these fueled all 105.1 TWh generated in the state. Carbon-free sources — nuclear and renewables — accounted for 40.4% of the total, while fossil fuels supplied 60.7%.
Renewable energy made up 13.7% of generation. Solar alone contributed 9.1% from utility-scale facilities, or 10% when small-scale rooftop solar is included in the calculation. Virginia ranked 33rd among the 51 states and DC in renewable share and 15th in solar share. The renewable share was 11.2 percentage points below the national average of 24.9%, while natural gas exceeded the national level of 40.8% by 15.8 percentage points.
The generation mix has shifted dramatically since 2001. Natural gas rose from 5.7% in 2001 to 57.3% in 2025, while coal collapsed from 51.0% to 3.4%. Renewable generation climbed from 3.7% in 2001 to 13.2% in 2025, driven almost entirely by solar's emergence from nothing to 8.6%. Among six bordering states, two had higher renewable shares than Virginia — District of Columbia at 53.1% and North Carolina at 14.3% — while Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee all had lower shares.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›What percentage of Virginia's electricity comes from renewable energy?
›What percentage of Virginia's power comes from solar?
›Where does Virginia get most of its electricity?
›Does Virginia still burn coal for electricity?
›Is Virginia 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 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.