Generator statistics span several different measures: physical generator units, nameplate and net summer capacity, electricity produced, proposed interconnection capacity, project costs, and company sales. The figures below cover the United States and global electricity systems, with periods and estimates identified so unlike measures are not treated as interchangeable.
Key Generator Statistics
The most broadly useful generator statistics in this overview are:
- 23,476 utility-scale generators with 1,288,583.3 MW of nameplate capacity operated by all U.S. utility-scale producers in 2024.
- 26,854 U.S. utility-scale generators with 1,324,740.5 MW of nameplate capacity were recorded across all sectors in 2024.
- 1,230,415.2 MW of net summer capacity was reported for all U.S. utility-scale sectors in 2024.
- U.S. utility-scale electric power generation increased 3.0% from 2023 to 2024.
- 50,454 MW of net summer capacity was added by new U.S. generators in 2024.
- Global electricity demand rose 4.3% in 2024, compared with 2.5% in 2023.
- Global electricity consumption increased by 1,080 TWh in 2024, excluding power-plant and industry own use and transmission and distribution losses.
- Global electricity generation grew by more than 1,200 TWh, or about 4%, in 2024.
- Renewables and nuclear supplied more than 80% of global generation growth in 2024.
- Fossil fuels supplied nearly 60% of global electricity generation in 2024.
- Coal supplied 35% of global electricity generation in 2024.
- Renewables supplied one-third of global electricity generation in 2024.
- Global renewable capacity additions rose an estimated 25% to around 700 GW in 2024.
- Global solar PV additions reached about 550 GW in 2024, bringing installed PV capacity to about 2.2 TW.
- More than 7 GW of nuclear capacity came online globally in 2024, taking installed nuclear capacity to 420 GW.
- U.S. 2024 solar installations cost a capacity-weighted average of $1,865 per kW.
- 11,841 active U.S. generator interconnection requests sought transmission interconnection at the end of 2023.
- U.S. active interconnection queues contained 2,289 GW of capacity at the end of 2024 across organized markets.
- Generac reported $2.3 billion in residential-product net sales for the 12 months ended September 30, 2024.
Contents
- U.S. generator capacity and additions
- Global electricity generation and demand trends
- Generator technology and fuel statistics
- Generator construction costs and project scale
- Interconnection queues and grid expansion
- Generac industry and distribution statistics
U.S. Generator Statistics: Capacity, Counts and Additions
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2024 capacity table separates generators by producer type and sector. The measure is mostly utility-scale generator records, and EIA notes that some multi-generator renewable sites can be represented by one generator record.
| U.S. producer or sector, 2024 | Generator units | Nameplate capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Electric utilities | 9,814 | 678,231.8 MW |
| Independent power producers, non-CHP | 13,224 | 581,128.7 MW |
| Independent power producers, CHP | 438 | 29,222.8 MW |
| Commercial sector | 1,888 | 5,911.4 MW |
| Industrial sector | 1,490 | 30,245.8 MW |
Across all U.S. utility-scale sectors, EIA recorded 26,854 generators and 1,324,740.5 MW of nameplate capacity in 2024. The all-sector net summer capacity measure was lower, at 1,230,415.2 MW, because nameplate capacity and net summer capacity describe different operating-capacity concepts. EIA, Electric Power Annual Table 4.4
Small-scale solar is tracked separately through an estimate rather than a direct generator count. EIA estimated 53,228.1 MW of small-scale solar photovoltaic net summer capacity in 2024, using EIA-826, EIA-861M, EIA-861, and technical-note methods. EIA, Electric Power Annual Table 4.4
The annual change data show a growing U.S. power system during the same period:
- U.S. utility-scale electric power generation increased 3.0% from 2023 to 2024.
- New U.S. generators added 50,454 MW of net summer capacity in 2024.
- U.S. generator retirements reduced net summer capacity by 9,027 MW in 2023.
- U.S. retail electricity sales increased 2.6% from 2023 to 2024, while the average residential retail electricity price increased 3.0%.
The sales and price figures describe electricity retail activity, not generator output or generator construction cost. EIA, What’s New for the Electric Power Annual 2024
Global Generator Statistics: Electricity Demand and Generation Trends
The International Energy Agency’s Global Energy Review 2025 reports a sharp acceleration in global electricity demand during 2024. Global demand grew 4.3% in 2024, compared with 2.5% in 2023, and total global electricity consumption increased by 1,080 TWh.
The consumption measure excludes power-plant and industry own use plus transmission and distribution losses. That definition matters when comparing it with generation, which grew by more than 1,200 TWh, or about 4%, in 2024. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
Sector demand also shifted during the year:
- Global building-sector electricity consumption grew by more than 600 TWh, or 5%, in 2024.
- Industry accounted for nearly 40% of global electricity-demand growth in 2024; this is a share of annual growth, not a share of total consumption.
- Global electricity use in transport increased by more than 8% in 2024.
These figures describe worldwide electricity use, not a count of household, commercial, or industrial backup generators. They provide the demand context that power-generation capacity must serve. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
Generator Technology Statistics by Fuel and Technology
The global 2024 generation mix remained fossil-heavy, even as low-carbon technologies supplied most of the year’s growth.
| Global generation measure, 2024 | Share or addition |
|---|---|
| Fossil fuels | Nearly 60% of generation |
| Coal | 35% of generation |
| Natural gas | More than 20% of generation |
| Renewables | One-third of generation |
| Hydropower | 14% of generation |
| Wind | 8% of generation |
| Solar PV | 7% of generation |
| Nuclear power | 9% of generation |
Renewables and nuclear together supplied more than 80% of global electricity-generation growth in 2024. The IEA describes the shares as estimates and rounded values, so they should be read as a generation mix overview rather than precision accounting. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
The U.S. mix differed from the global picture. In 2024, natural gas supplied over 40% of U.S. electricity generation, compared with 23% renewables, 18% nuclear, and 16% coal; these are rounded regional mix values. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
Renewable and nuclear capacity additions show where expansion was concentrated:
- Global renewable capacity additions rose an estimated 25% to around 700 GW in 2024.
- Solar PV accounted for more than three-quarters of 2024 renewable-capacity additions.
- Solar PV additions totaled about 550 GW in 2024, nearly 30% above 2023, and installed global PV capacity reached about 2.2 TW.
- Global wind additions were around 120 GW in 2024.
- Solar PV and wind together represented 95% of 2024 renewable-capacity growth.
- More than 7 GW of nuclear capacity came online in 2024, 33% more than in 2023, bringing installed nuclear capacity to 420 GW.
Capacity additions are not the same as electricity generation: output depends on operation, resource conditions, and technology. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
Generator Construction Costs and Project Scale in the United States
EIA’s 2024 generator-cost dataset reports capacity-weighted average construction costs for selected U.S. technologies installed during 2024. The figures are in 2024 dollars per kilowatt and include disclosure limitations.
| Technology installed in 2024 | Average cost |
|---|---|
| Solar | $1,865 per kW |
| Battery storage | $1,469 per kW |
| Wind | $1,882 per kW |
| Natural gas | $1,004 per kW |
Reported total costs for included new U.S. plants were $57.5 billion for solar, $16.3 billion for battery storage, $9.2 billion for wind, and $1.9 billion for natural gas. These totals cover reported included technologies; omitted technologies may reflect disclosure protection, so they are not a complete all-technology market total. EIA, Construction cost data for electric generators installed in 2024
Average cost per kilowatt and total reported plant cost answer different questions. The former describes capacity-weighted installation cost, while the latter aggregates reported costs for the included new plants and should not be treated as a forecast of future projects.
Generator Interconnection Queues and U.S. Grid Expansion
Interconnection queues measure proposed requests seeking access to the transmission system, not completed projects. Preliminary Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory data cited by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission show 11,841 active generator requests at the end of 2023, up 16% from 2022.
At the same point, active U.S. queues contained the following estimated capacity:
| Resource in active queues, end-2023 | Capacity |
|---|---|
| Generation | 1,565 GW |
| Hybrid storage | 299 GW |
| Standalone storage | 503 GW |
Solar, wind, and battery-storage resources represented nearly 95% of queued capacity at the end of 2023. Solar represented 46%, standalone storage 21%, and hybrid storage 13% of cumulative queued capacity; hybrid-storage estimates include imputation where data were missing. FERC, 2023 State of the Market Report
Queue capacity also changed quickly from 2022 to 2023: generation capacity increased 29%, hybrid-storage capacity increased 87%, and standalone-storage capacity increased 55%. Those are derived changes from preliminary queue data and do not indicate that the requested projects will all be built. FERC, 2023 State of the Market Report
FERC’s 2024 organized-markets summary reported 2,289 GW of total active interconnection-queue capacity at the end of 2024, down from 2,368 GW in 2023. Electricity demand increased 2.8% across all regional organized U.S. markets in 2024, while more than 5,000 circuit miles of transmission projects entered service during the year. FERC, State of the Markets Report for 2024 Released
Generac Generator Industry and Distribution Statistics
Generac’s November 2024 investor presentation illustrates the scale of one generator manufacturer and distributor, but its figures are company-specific rather than market-wide industry revenue. For the 12 months ended September 30, 2024, Generac reported the following net sales:
| Generac segment | LTM net sales |
|---|---|
| Residential products | $2.3 billion |
| Commercial and industrial products | $1.4 billion |
| Other products | $0.5 billion |
The same presentation listed approximately 9,100 residential dealers in Generac’s global distribution network in November 2024, approximately 1,600 wholesale branches serving contractors across North America, and approximately 8,000 retail outlets. The counts are rounded company-presentation figures, not an independent census of generator dealers or outlets. Generac, Investor Presentation, November 2024
Generac also reported a 15% revenue CAGR from its 2010 IPO through its 2024 forecast in that November 2024 presentation. The company states that the 2024 figure assumes the midpoint of guidance and includes acquisitions completed from 2011 onward, so this is a company-reported derived measure and forecast-linked comparison rather than a measured growth rate for the entire generator industry. Generac, Investor Presentation, November 2024