Renewables = 20.4% of US Electricity Generation

In the first 10 months of 2020, renewable energy sources accounted for 20.4% of United States electricity generation. That’s up from 17.5% in the same time period in 2018.

Wind power got up to 8% of the electricity pie, up from 6.4% in January–October 2018. Solar power was up to 3.4% in 2020 in January–October 2020, compared to 2.3% in January–October 2018. Other renewable resources were more or less steady in that timeframe.

As renewable energy sources grew in prominence, so did natural gas, which went from 35.3% of US electricity generation to 40.6%, an even bigger climb than the growth in electricity from renewable energy.

Nuclear power also grew its share of the market a little bit, from 18.9% to 19.3%.

The major drop in share came from coal. Coal power declined from 27% of the electricity generation market in 2018 to 23.3% in January–October 2019 and then to 18.6% in January–October 2020.

For more on US electricity generation and US electricity capacity changes over time, see our previous US electricity generation and US electricity capacity reports.