EIA estimates renewables, natural gas to dominate 2019
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently predicted that 2019’s generating capacity will be dominated by renewables and natural gas.
Of 23.7 new gigawatts of capacity additions expected to come online this year, EIA estimates that 46 percent (10.9 GW) will come from wind, 34 percent (8 GW) natural gas, 18 percent (4.3 GW) solar and 2 percent from other renewables or battery storage. Nearly half of the wind additions will occur in Texas, Iowa, and Illinois, while the majority of natural gas additions will occur in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Louisiana. Solar will see nearly half of its additions occurring in Texas, California, and North Carolina.
By contrast, the year’s capacity retirements will consist of an overwhelming amount of coal (53 percent), natural gas (27 percent) and nuclear (18 percent), with the remaining 2 percent coming from smaller renewable and petroleum capacities. All of this amounts to 8.3 GW being retired. For coal, the largest chunk of this comes from a single plant in Navajo, Ariz., and most retirements will occur toward year’s end. The natural gas retirements will be focused on older steam turbine plants, and most of these are in California. The nuclear losses consist of two nuclear plants located in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
