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January 2026 Generation Update: Record Additions, "Ghost Plants," and AI-Dashboard

 

Here is our monthly summary of the latest EIA-860M update. This month, we identified 10 GW of new projects, with Texas leading at nearly 5 GW, followed by Arizona at 1 GW. Solar projects account for over 5 GW of this total, with gas projects following at over 3 GW. This represents the largest volume of January additions since 2016.

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Just over 800 MW were canceled this month, primarily in the solar sector. The largest was EDF’s Walleye Solar (Sandow II) in Texas at 369 MW.

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Meanwhile, "Ghost Plant" updates saw nearly 850 MW added to the EIA-860M with operational status—over 575 MW of which were battery projects. Notably, over 740 MW became operational in 2025.


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AI Agent Insights I tasked our agent with generating its own analysis of the update.

Through the context and skills files I’ve been refining, the agent correctly identified that project timing is a critical variable. It also highlighted a table of project status changes, noting that "U to V" (Under Construction <50 to >50) is the most common transition. The agent also tracked startup date changes, ranking projects from most to least delayed.

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Monitoring & Coverage

Every month, we review our coverage to ensure we maintain at least 80% monitoring. Regardless of satellite coverage, all power projects are processed through our proprietary forecasting and ranking system. Satellite monitoring provides higher precision and boosts a project's ranking once construction is visually confirmed.

If you are a client, feel free to request specific projects for monitoring. We will add them to our queue whenever possible or provide feedback on why a specific site may be restricted.