Electricity from fossil fuels down, renewable up in 2017
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports electricity generated from fossil fuels decreased last year while generation from renewable sources rose.
The EIA’s Electric Power Monthly, referenced electricity generation fell 1.5 percent in 2017 while natural gas and coal generation fell by 7.7 percent and 2.5 percent from 2016, respectively.
Officials said generation from several renewable fuels, particularly hydro, wind, and solar increased from 2016 levels.
Coal-fired generation accounted for more than half of the electric capacity retired in 2017, officials said, with 6.3 gigawatts (GW) of the 11.2 GW total. For the first year in at least a decade, no new coal-fired generators were added.
Electricity from renewable sources, especially wind and solar, continued to increase in 2017.
The report referenced wind made up 6.3 percent of total net generation and utility-scale solar made up 1.3 percent, representing record shares for both fuels.
EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook anticipates hydro will continue to exceed wind in 2018, but wind is projected to become the predominant renewable electricity generation source in 2019.
Nearly 6.3 GW of wind turbines and 4.7 GW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic systems were added in 2017, officials said, adding for each technology, about a third of the year’s capacity additions came online in the last month of the year.
