Renewable generation tops coal usage in U.S. power sector for first time

After surpassing nuclear generation for the first time in 2021, renewable sources continued their forward progress last year by surpassing coal for the first time, producing 4,090 million MW hours of electric power from wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal efforts.

The biggest growth drivers were in wind and solar generating capacity, though, with utility-scale solar capacity leaping another 10 GW to 71 GW overall and wind capacity managing the same growth, totaling 141 GW in 2022. Texas produced more wind-generated power than any other state last year, cementing 26 percent of total U.S. wind generation. California produced 26 percent of the country’s utility-scale solar electricity, leading in that category.

Predictions from the United States Energy Information Administration’s March Short-Term Energy Outlook put wind share of the U.S. generation mix growing from 11 percent to 12 percent this year and solar growing from 4 percent to 5 percent. Natural gas was and shall remain the largest source of U.S. electricity generation for the foreseeable future after increasing to a 39 percent share last year. That figure is not expected to change this year, but coal’s share of generation is expected to continue falling.

Coal ended last year at a 20 percent share of electricity generation, down from 23 percent in 2021 due to plant retirements and decreasing use of the resource. Its share of things is expected to drop by the same percentage this year, ultimately falling to 17 percent.

Following the retirement of the Palisades nuclear power plant of Michigan last year, nuclear’s share of generation likewise fell, dropping a percentage point to 19 percent at the end of 2022. Other renewable sources, though, such as hydropower generation (6 percent) and biomass/geothermal sources (less than 1 percent), remained unchanged.