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25 Solar & Backup Power Statistics for 2026

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Key takeaway

US solar just had its biggest quarter in years — 11.4 GW installed in Q2 2026, up 45% year over year — and the portable power station market is heading past $11 billion by 2033. Backup power isn't a niche anymore; it's infrastructure. Sources cited under every stat.

US solar statistics 2026

  1. 11.4 GWdc of solar installed in the US in Q2 2026 — up 45% year over year. (SEIA / Wood Mackenzie, Solar Market Insight Q3 2026)
  2. 299.4 GWdc cumulative US solar capacity — enough to power more than 50 million homes, over a third of US households. (SEIA via pv magazine USA)
  3. 70% of all new US electricity-generating capacity added in H1 2026 was solar + battery storage. Solar alone was 45%. (SEIA)
  4. Solar now supplies nearly 9% of US electricity — roughly 7x its share a decade ago. (SEIA via pv magazine USA)
  5. The US solar industry employs 280,000+ workers across more than 10,000 businesses. (SEIA)
  6. Private solar investment totaled $69.1 billion in the US in 2025. (SEIA)
  7. Residential solar installed 995 MWdc in Q2 2026 (down 12% YoY after the federal residential tax credit expired end of 2025) — but forecasts show the segment returning to growth in 2027. (SEIA / Wood Mackenzie)
  8. Utility-scale solar installed 9.6 GWdc in Q2 2026, up 61% YoY, as developers raced safe-harbor deadlines. (SEIA)
  9. Analysts project roughly 44 GWdc of annual US solar additions through 2031, and the total market nearly doubling over five years. (Wood Mackenzie / SEIA)
  10. There are now more than 6.2 million solar installations operating in the US. (SEIA)

Portable power & backup statistics 2026

  1. The global portable power station market is valued at about $4.95 billion in 2026, growing ~10.7% per year toward $11.3 billion by 2033. (Industry research via Medium / market report)
  2. North America holds ~48% of the portable power station market — the world's largest regional market. (MarketDataForecast)
  3. The 500–999 Wh segment leads the market: the sweet spot of enough capacity for a fridge overnight while staying portable. (MarketDataForecast)
  4. LiFePO4 batteries deliver 3,000+ charge cycles vs 500–800 for older lithium-ion chemistries — roughly a decade of regular use vs 2–3 years. (Manufacturer specs, industry consensus)
  5. A modern full-size refrigerator uses about 1.0–1.2 kWh per day — the single number that determines what size backup you need. (Nova Bliss sizing analysis)
  6. A 1,000 Wh portable power station delivers roughly 850 Wh usable after inverter losses — about 16–20 hours of fridge runtime. (Nova Bliss sizing analysis)
  7. Outdoor recreation and emergency preparedness are the two fastest-growing buyer segments for portable power. (Industry research)
  8. Extreme-weather grid outages are the top-cited purchase trigger for home backup buyers. (Industry surveys)
  9. Pure sine wave inverters are now standard on reputable units — required for anything with a motor or circuit board. (Industry standard)
  10. 400W+ of solar input turns a power station from a countdown timer into a multi-day outage solution: a 1,000 Wh unit refills in ~3 hours of good sun. (Nova Bliss sizing analysis)

Why we published this

We sell the equipment behind these numbers — solar gear, portable power stations, and backup power. If you're writing about solar or emergency preparedness, feel free to cite these statistics with a link back to this page.

Statistics compiled October 2026. Market figures vary by research firm methodology; ranges shown reflect published estimates.