Western U.S. hourly electric power supply: August 2-8, 2026

 

Aerial view of Palo Verde nuclear generating station in Arizona.
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.


by Allyn Svoboda
August 23, 2026

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Hourly Electric Grid Monitor is the data source for this report. The data is “preliminary.” EIA disclaimer is at the end of this report.

Charts below created from Hourly Grid Monitor data for Northwest, Southwest and California regions‍. ‍These regions comprise the U.S Western electric system interconnection.

…………….…

[above charts]
U.S. Western Interconnection electric generation from all energy sources: August 2-8, 2026.‍ Linecurrents.live charts, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Hourly Electric Grid Monitor data.


 

Natural gas combustion, hydroelectric dams and solar energy contributed the largest individual shares of electric generation in the Western Interconnection for the week beginning August 2, 2026.

          37.8% natural gas
16.2% solar + solar w/storage
15.2% hydroelectric
11.0% coal
10.7% wind
6.9% nuclear
1.1% geothermal
0.9% other
0.1% petroleum


Non-combustion energy sources - Wind, Solar, Nuclear, Geothermal, Hydroelectric and Other - combined supplied:

MegaWatt-hours (Mwhr)
9,071,891

% total electric power generated

50.91%


 

Hourly electric generation by type for each day

DAILY 24-HOUR CHARTS below for the week beginning August 2, 2026 show hourly results for:

  • U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) non-combustion electric generating categories - color areas.

  • total of all electric energy sources, including combustion -gray line.

Linecurrents.live charts created from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.


 

DAILY TRENDS

24-hour charts above reveal patterns:

  • Windpower production is less during mid’-day hours, but increases in late afternoon

  • Hydroelectric increases in early evenings to compensate for loss of solar generation and the evening increase in electric consumers’ demand.

MAXIMUMS and MINIMUMS

megawatthours per hour

systemwide

135,827 maximum
80,089 minimum

non-combustion sources

Hydroelectric
26,780 maximum
10,952 minimum

Solar + Solar with storage
41,310 maximum

Wind
19,926 maximum
3,398 minimum

Nuclear
7,339 maximum
7,189 minimum

Geothermal
1,229 maximum
1,091 minimum


Notes

Disclaimer: The information submitted by reporting entities is preliminary data and is made available "as-is" by EIA. Neither EIA nor reporting entities are responsible for reliance on the data for any specific use.

Standalone battery energy is not shown in this report because:

  • battery energy storage systems (BESS) do not generate (produce) electricity.

  • hourly values are negative (-) when absorbing power from other electric generating sources delivered by the electric transmission or distribution system, and positive (+) when releasing stored energy.

Solar with co-located battery systems is included in this report because the solar portion is a generating source.


Next
Next

Western U.S. hourly electric power supply: July 26 - August 1, 2026