Electricity
Electricity Monthly Update
With Data for January 2016 | Release Date: Mar. 24, 2016 | Next Release Date: Apr. 25, 2016
Previous Issues
Highlights: January 2016
- Average revenue per kilowatthour and retail sales volumes were lower across all sectors compared to last year.
- Wholesale natural gas and electricity prices around the country were significantly lower than in previous years.
- The price of natural gas at New York City on a $/MWh basis was above the price of Central Appalachian coal for the first time since March 2015.
Key Indicators
| January 2016 | % Change from January 2015 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Net Generation (Thousand MWh) |
350,863 | -3.0% |
| Residential Retail Price (cents/kWh) |
12.01 | -0.7% |
| Retail Sales (Thousand MWh) |
318,075 | -2.5% |
| Heating Degree-Days | 870 | -2.8% |
| Natural Gas Price, Henry Hub ($/MMBtu) |
1.95 | -43.6% |
| Natural Gas Consumption (Mcf) |
808,451 | 8.1% |
| Coal Consumption (Thousand Tons) |
62,186 | -12.8% |
| Coal Stocks (Thousand Tons) |
189,128 | 22.2% |
| Nuclear Generation (Thousand MWh) |
72,536 | -2.3% |
Nonhydro renewable power generation widened gap over conventional hydroelectricity in 2015
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-923 Power Plant Operations ReportNotes: Annual data for 2015 are preliminary.
Nonhydroelectric renewable power generation continued to surpass conventional hydroelectric power generation in 2015. Renewable energy sources include both conventional hydroelectric power and nonhydroelectric sources (wind, geothermal, biomass, and solar).
Hydro power has traditionally been the dominant source of renewable power generation, accounting for more than three times (270,321 gigawatt hours (GWh)) as much of generation as all nonhydro renewable sources together (87,329 GWh) in 2005. Over the past decade, hydro power generation decreased by 7%, and nonhydro renewable generation increased by 242% . Nonhydro renewable generation (279,213 GWh) first exceeded hydro generation (259,367GWh) in 2014. The difference between the two sources of electricity generation expanded further in 2015 when nonhydro generation increased to 298,358 GWh, while hydro generation decreased to 251,168 GWh.
The growth in nonhydro renewable generation has been the source of renewables' increasing share of total U.S. power generation over the past 10 years. In 2005, the total generation from all renewable sources was 357,651 GWh, or 8.8% of the total U.S. power generation. In 2015, generation from all renewables stood at 549,527 GWh, or 13.4 % of total U.S. power generation, with conventional hydropower, wind, biomass, solar, and geothermal contributing 6.1%, 4.7%, 1.6%, 0.6%, and 0.4%, respectively. In contrast, between 2005 and 2015, the share of generation from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) declined from 71.7% to 66.9%, while the nuclear share increased slightly from 19.3% to 19.5%.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-923 Power Plant Operations ReportNotes: Annual data for 2015 are preliminary.
Wind has been the dominant energy source in the expansion of nonhydro renewable power generation since 2005. Electricity generated from wind power increased 972%, from 17,811 GWh in 2005 to 190,927 GWh in 2015. The increase in wind energy accounted for 82% of the increase in total nonhydro renewable generation during this 10-year period. More recently, a second factor driving nonhydro renewable power generation has been the increase in solar generation. Between 2005 and 2015, electricity generation from solar increased 48 fold, from 550 GWh to 26,473 GWh. This increase was the fastest growth rate among all nonhydro renewable energy sources, with most of the growth occurring after 2010. Power generation from geothermal and biomass also increased during this 10-year period. Biomass increased 18.3% from 54,277 to 64,191 GWh, and geothermal increased 14.1% from 14,692 to 16,767 GWh.
Principal Contributor:
Joy Liu
(Joy.Liu@eia.gov)