U.S. Power Plant Construction Kickoffs in September Top $16.8 Billion

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Written by Jesse Broehl, Editor-in-Chief, Breaking Energy News (BEN), IIR Intelligence, (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Sixty power-generation projects in the U.S. are scheduled to break ground this September, representing a combined investment of $16.8 billion and roughly 18,083 MW of capacity.

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More than 18K MW Slated

Sixty power generation projects in the U.S. are scheduled to break ground this September, with a total investment value (TIV) of $16.8 billion, according to IIR Energy's latest analysis of power market projects. These projects represent roughly 18,083 megawatts (MW) of capacity across 10 fuel-type categories.

Not all these projects are certain to kick off in September, but this analysis narrows the list to those IIR Energy deems likely to begin construction soon or in the coming months. These projects are considered to have a medium or high probability of kicking off, based on IIR Energy's verified tracking and analysis of project metrics.

Industrial Info Resources offers more information on these projects in its Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database, where readers can find details--including construction schedules, investment values and necessary equipment--in a list of project reports.

September Ranking and Market Shares by Power Plant Types

With 17 projects, solar leads September's U.S. power-generation construction by a narrow margin, accounting for $4.42 billion, or 26% of the month's $16.8 billion TIV.

This comes just ahead of eight natural gas-fired power projects, totaling $4 billion or a 24% share. For more information, see September 28, 2026, Breaking Energy News article - $4 Billion in U.S. Natural Gas Power Projects Planning September Groundbreaking.

Standalone battery energy-storage systems (BESS) show a surprisingly strong third place ranking, with 11 projects representing $3.28 billion (19.5% share), followed closely by solar-plus-BESS co-located projects, with only three representing $3.11 billion (18.5% share).

Together, those four categories of solar, gas, stand-alone BESS, and solar-plus-BESS represent 88% of September's TIV for U.S. power projects planning kickoff.

Wind power, which a decade ago eclipsed solar for total new capacity of renewables coming online, has continued to slip in share, at fifth place and $937 million.

Nuclear, coal, fuel cell and geothermal projects represent the small remaining 5.6% of total spend. The work in those sectors is almost entirely refurbishment, life-extension work on existing assets.

For more information on solar kickoffs in September, see September 28, 2026, Breaking Energy News article - $4.4 Billion in U.S. Solar Power Projects Planning September Groundbreaking.

New Net Megawatts Versus Sustaining Existing Megawatts

The charts below summarize the September projects by TIV and the total MW associated with each project. The MW total chart includes a split between new-build MW that adds net new MW capacity to the grid, versus projects that are related to maintaining, refurbishing, life-extending existing operational MW assets.

Naturally, this is where large-MW numbers arise in the sectors of coal, nuclear and hydro, which are usually old and large legacy operating plants, and keeping them running and contributing baseload generation is highly valuable to the overall grid.

Coal and nuclear both represent zero net new MW capacity. Most gas is new build, although 506 MW is related to uprates. Solar, solar-plus-BESS, stand-alone BESS, and wind are all new capacity.

The net effect of that distinction is that the total new MW capacity added to the grid from the 60-project set totals about 11,350 MW, compared with the 18,083 MW associated with all the projects. That's about 63% of project capacity related to bringing new megawatts online and 37% to sustain existing generation.

Since these many power plants are too numerous to provide details in this one news story, this article serves as an overall catch-all summary, and each fuel or power plant type sector is covered in follow-up, accompanying sector-specific stories. To see details of these projects individually, readers can consult a list in IIR Energy's database.

Source: IIR Energy, (Data Link to Projects)

Key Takeaways

• Sixty power-generation projects in the U.S. are scheduled to break ground this September, representing a combined $16.8 billion of total investment value
• With 17 projects, leads September's U.S. power construction starts with 3,330 MW.
• This comes just ahead of eight natural gas-fired power projects totaling 3,076 MW.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news, and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing, and energy-related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified, and verified plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).