New York State · power sector

New York has the sun. It doesn't yet have the transition.

The same chart as Germany's, for New York State, 1990–2024 — from EIA data. New York's solar and wind resource is as good or better than Germany's, yet the lines look nothing alike. Fossil gas still dominates, nuclear fell by a third when Indian Point closed, hydro holds steady — and wind and solar are still only about 7% of the mix, where Germany reached roughly 45%.

New York electricity generation by source, terawatt-hours (TWh)

Wind & solar Fossil fuels Nuclear Other renewables

The gap is deployment, not resource

Wind & solar as a share of total electricity generation. Same technology, a sunnier and comparably windy geography — a very different result.

Germany2025
New York2024
Better sun, comparable wind, one-sixth the result. New York gets more annual sunlight than the German average and sits on a strong Atlantic offshore-wind shelf, yet wind and solar supply about 7% of its electricity versus roughly 45% in Germany. The physical resource was never the limiting factor here — buildout, permitting, transmission, and policy are. Germany shows the ceiling is far higher than New York's current mix.
Full data table
YearWind + solarFossil fuels NuclearOther renew.W+S share

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Net Generation by State by Type of Producer by Energy Source (EIA-923), 1990–2024, “Total Electric Power Industry.” Categories to match the German chart: fossil fuels = coal + natural gas + petroleum + other gases; wind & solar = wind + utility solar; other renewables = conventional hydro + biomass + wood. New York's other-renewables line is mostly Niagara and St. Lawrence hydropower. Germany figures from the companion chart (Energy Institute). Shares use the four categories shown.