Eve is here. Aside from the point in the headline that King Coal will not disappear as quickly as some would like, further down this article there are additional points that will not satisfy climate change fighters. The first is that coal serves as a swing power source for many U.S. power companies. Second, (surprise!) data center demands are causing power consumption to exceed many predictions.
Tsvetana Paraskova is a writer for Oilprice.com and has over 10 years of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. crude oil price
- Coal still accounts for about 16% share of electricity generation.
- Coal is declining, but not as fast as environmentalists and enthusiasts had hoped.
- But coal-fired power generation could increase in the summer, especially if a heat wave hits areas where wind power cannot provide additional electricity supply.
Even as U.S. coal-fired power generation continues to decline, coal still accounts for more than 15% of the U.S. electricity mix, more than any other renewable energy source.
In the U.S. electricity sector, all renewable energy sources combined, including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal, outpaced coal-fired power generation. First time in 2022. However, coal still accounts for around 16% of electricity generation, ahead of wind’s roughly 11%, hydro’s 6% and solar’s 4% share of the generation mix.
Indeed, coal’s electricity production and share have declined in recent years. This is thanks to a surge in renewable energy and an increasing share of electricity from natural gas due to increased production and falling gas prices. However, coal still plays a role in providing reliable baseload electricity, and although declining, its share and contribution to the U.S. power system is far from negligible.
Coal is declining, but not at the rate that environmentalists and enthusiasts had hoped.
The Biden administration aims to make the U.S. power grid zero-emissions by 2035. However, given current fossil fuels (mainly natural gas and coal), this will be difficult to achieve. offer 60% Coal accounts for 43% of total electricity generation in the United States. Last year, gas accounted for 43% and coal for more than 16%.
Earlier this year, coal-fired power generation fell to its lowest level in four years from January to April, but coal’s share remained above 15%, according to LSEG data cited by a Reuters columnist. Gavin Maguire.
Coal consumption typically declines in the spring and fall, the so-called “shoulder” seasons, when demand for heating and cooling is lowest.
But coal-fired power generation could increase in the summer, especially if a heat wave hits areas where wind power cannot provide additional electricity supply.
Additionally, operators plan to retire coal-fired power plants this year. Based on EIA data. Carriers plan to retire 5.2 gigawatts (GW) of U.S. power generation capacity in 2024, with coal and natural gas together accounting for 91% of the U.S.’s planned retirement capacity this year. Total capacity scheduled for retirement is 62% lower than last year, when 13.5 GW was retired, and the lowest since 2008.
Coal retirement will slow in 2024, the EIA announced in February, after 22.3 million kW of U.S. coal-fired generation capacity was retired over the past two years. The 2.3 GW of coal-fired generation capacity scheduled for retirement will account for 1.3% of U.S. coal-fired power plants in operation at the end of 2023. Coal retirement is scheduled to pick up in 2025, with operators expecting to retire 10.9GW.
The United States is currently retiring coal-fired power plants every year, but some regions rely more on coal for power generation than others, and data centers supporting AI technology are also causing demand for electricity to surge. As expected, a stable power supply will also be required.
Five U.S. states rely on coal for more than half of their electricity generation. Reuters’ Maguire points out that these are North Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky, Wyoming and West Virginia.
Moreover, we are seeing this kind of explosion in data centers. growth This means that the rapid increase in demand for electricity is putting a greater burden on power companies than desired.
Some power companies in the eastern and southern United States are proposing to add new natural gas-fired power generation capacity alongside renewable energy to accommodate increased power consumption from data centers. Additionally, some companies are planning to delay the retirement of coal-fired power plants to ensure grid reliability.
For example, Kansas City-based utility company Evergy. Said In June 2023, the company announced it would phase out coal operations at the Lawrence Energy Center only in 2028, compared with its previous plan to phase out at the end of 2023.
“Our service area is experiencing the strongest electricity demand growth in decades, including very large projects like the Panasonic electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant and metadata center, as well as broad-based economic development in both Kansas and Missouri,” Evergy said. President and CEO David Campbell said last year.
