As of the end of 2021, 31 states and the District of Columbia had renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or clean energy standards (CES). These polices require electricity suppliers to supply a set share of their electricity from designated renewable resources or carbon-free eligible technologies. Four states — Delaware, Oregon, North Carolina, … [continued]
The most recent Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) quarterly auction (held on December 1, 2021) resulted in a clearing price of $13.00 per allowance, surpassing the previous auction’s record price of $9.30 per allowance. Each allowance represents a limited authorization for power plants to emit one short ton of CO2. … [continued]
In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast that U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will increase in both 2022 and 2023 but remain below 2019 levels. In 2020, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions decreased by 11% as energy use declined during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the U.S. economy … [continued]
In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that rising electricity generation from renewable energy resources such as solar and wind will reduce generation from fossil fuel-fired power plants over the next two years. The forecast share of generation for U.S. non-hydropower renewable sources, including solar and wind, grows from 13% … [continued]
Operators have scheduled 14.9 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity to retire in the United States during 2022, according to our latest inventory of electric generators. The majority of the scheduled retirements are coal-fired power plants (85%), followed by natural gas (8%) and nuclear (5%). Coal. After substantial retirements of U.S. … [continued]
In 2022, we expect 46.1 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to be added to the U.S. power grid, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Almost half of the planned 2022 capacity additions are solar, followed by natural gas at 21% and wind at 17%. Developers … [continued]
Average wholesale prices for electricity at major trading hubs in the United States were higher in 2021 than in 2020 as increasing costs for power generation fuels, especially natural gas, pushed electricity prices higher in the second half of 2021. Constraints on electricity supply as a result of cold weather … [continued]
Although coal-fired power plants have no mandatory retirement age, power plant owners and operators have reported to EIA that they plan to retire 28%, or 59 gigawatts (GW), of the coal-fired capacity currently operating in the United States by 2035. As of September 2021, 212 GW of utility-scale coal-fired electric-generating … [continued]
Coal stockpiles at U.S. electric power plants totaled 80 million tons at the end of September, the lowest monthly level since March 1978. As U.S. coal plants have retired and remaining plants are used less, the country’s total coal stockpiles have declined. In addition, increased electricity generation by coal plants … [continued]
Despite widespread, intense drought conditions, hydroelectric power plants in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, provided a significant amount of generation from April to September 2021. Although drought conditions reduced the water supply in California, hydroelectric generation during this period still increased … [continued]
