Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday.
Renewable electricity generation surpasses coal in the US
On Monday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced electricity generated from renewables surpassed both nuclear and coal in 2022. According to the latest report, the growth in coal and wind energy drove the increase by contributing 14 percent.
California is credited with producing 26 percent of the national utility-scale solar electricity. Texas and North California follow with 16 and 8 percent respectively. Similarly, Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma lead the wind generation list with 26, 10, and nine percent respectively.
“I’m happy to see we’ve crossed that threshold, but that is only a step in what has to be a very rapid and much cheaper journey,” stated Stephen Porder. Ponder is an assistant provost for sustainability and a professor of ecology at Brown University. “Wind and solar are going to be the backbone of the growth in renewables, but whether or not they can provide 100% of the U.S. electricity without backup is something that engineers are debating,” he added.
More on the energy report
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that the rise in wind share of America’s electricity generation is going to increase from 11 to 12 percent from 2022 to 2023. In the same period, electricity from solar generation will see a rise from four to five percent. According to researchers, the rise of renewable electricity generation greatly depends on battery storage and long-distance transmission and these help in addressing challenges. Currently, the US is heavily reliant on the burning of fossil fuels. The coal-fired generation saw a decline from 23 percent in 2021 to 20 percent in 2022. (cashcofinancial.com)
However natural gas was the largest source, adding up to 39 percent, unlike 37 percent in 2021. “When you look at the data, natural gas has been a major driver for lowering greenhouse gas emissions from electricity because it’s been largely replacing coal-fired power plants,” stated Melissa Lott. Lott is the director of research for the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “Going forward, you can’t have emissions continuing to go up, you need to bring them down quickly,” she added.
