06:05 AM EDT, 04/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- A full solar eclipse on Monday will briefly obscure sunlight to utility-scale solar generation facilities from Texas through Maine with a combined 6.5 gigawatts of capacity, the US Energy Information Administration reported Friday.

The eclipse will also partially block sunlight to facilities with a combined 84.8 GW of capacity in a larger swath of the US around peak solar generating time, the EIA said.

Generators in the path of totality will be affected the most as the moon will block all direct sunlight for more than four minutes. The partial eclipse could limit the sunlight in the path of totality for more than two hours, the agency noted.

Areas around the path of totality will have varying levels of diminished solar generation during the eclipse.

Utilities have prepared for the lost solar energy, with grid authorities releasing plans for dealing with the change in solar generation. During the eclipse, electricity generators in the affected areas will have to boost output from other generation sources to supplement the solar power decrease, the EIA said.

Even with the eclipse, the EIA said it still expects solar generation to be the third-largest contributor of electricity in the US on April 8, behind natural gas and nuclear.