Power sources are historically tied to local resources. With so much variation in climate and geology across the US and Canada, there are several key energy regions.
- Coal Country spans much of the US northeast, historically powering the country with its abundant coal reserves. While coal’s decline has reshaped the region, natural gas from the Marcellus shale is shifting its landscape.
- A wind belt cuts across the central US and into Canada. Texas has been called the “Saudi Arabia of Wind,” while states like Iowa and Kansas regularly generate more than half their electricity from wind farms.
- A solar belt stretches across the southwestern US, where states like California, Arizona, and Nevada have built some of the world’s largest solar farms. With the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts receiving some of the highest solar irradiance on Earth, large-scale solar installations have been used to harvest the energy.
- Hydro potential dominates much of the north, with large reservoirs and generating stations supplying many parts of Canada and some US states. Though, droughts have affected the reservoirs over the past year, with Quebec moving from next exporter to net importer over the course of the year.
The news of the year:
California became the first state to generate more electricity from solar power than any other source. Solar eclipsed natural gas as the state’s adoption of batteries allowed for more solar to be absorbed into the system.
by Orennia
19 Comments
Data Sources: Orennia and Canada Energy Regulator
Tool: Orennia Ion_AI Platform data and Adobe for illustration
More Information: [20125 Power Sources by State and Province | Orennia](https://orennia.com/insights/2025-regional-powers-largest-source-of-electricity)
The fact that there’s still so much coal in use is depressing
Is this power used or power generated?
very interesting – thank you for sharing. hopefully this changes quickly, to more sustainable forms of energy.
Idk how coal is leading in North Dakota, I lived there for nearly a decade. There are wind farms EVERYWHERE.
How on earth is solar not dominant in places like Nevada and Arizona? What an absolute failure
Problem in California is that they are trying to mandate that natural gas can’t be used. Our power companies are privately owned and we pay the highest power costs in the country. It’s awful.
HYDRO SUPREMACY!
I love living in Washington so damn much.
“Solar” but when the grid failed California buys natural gas energy from as far as Colorado. Half of our electric bill is transmission costs. 25-30% of our energy is imported
Iowa blows! In a good way for once 🙂
I know this isn’t the forum, but it’s still very much up for debate if natural gas “significantly reduces,” or even reduces at all, emissions compared to coal. Methane only has to leak 3-5% during storage/transmission to break even, and the gas companies themselves, who have an incentive to underreport, are in charge of disclosing these measurements. [https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/10/liquefied-natural-gas-carbon-footprint-worse-coal?utm_source=chatgpt.com](https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/10/liquefied-natural-gas-carbon-footprint-worse-coal?utm_source=chatgpt.com) and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2oL4SFwkkw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2oL4SFwkkw)
Why are y’all still burning rocks?
Isn’t it crazy that solar isn’t #1 in states like Florida, Texas and Arizona? Where they have probably 20 overcast days a year.
That’s because California is the Sunshine State. Oh wait, no it’s not, its the Golden State. Is there a problem here?
In Québec, the Canadian government did not want to give us a loan for Hydro Québec. We had to request one from the US.
California [CAISO](https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply) power generation for today by source.
The fact that hydro isn’t #1 in NY is insane to me. There are some towns who got ahead of the power company trying to block things here and their electric bills are almost nothing compared to peer towns because they installed a dam to generate electricity. The entire Erie canal could be fitted with them (in fact I think some are and used to power the dams/locks before they were forced to use the power grid.
It’s a crime that the utility companies basically force us to remain in hydrocarbon hell.
The dirty secret behind Californias solar is how they managed to build massive solar farms in Nevada by making the NV residents pay for it through their power company because the same company owns both the NV and CA power company. Huge solar fields paid by NV with the sole purpose to supply electricity to CA. It’s bullshit
I had family living in NW Wyoming and every time we visited I was struck by how they are living on top of a literal volcano and yet use no geothermal power. It’s prohibited inside Yellowstone to preserve the natural features, and I gather any tapping could destroy the entire geyser system. Wyoming is also very windy, yet they are still burning coal.