Electricity
- EIA expects the share of U.S. total utility-scale electricity generation from natural gas-fired power plants will rise from 34% in 2018 to 37% in 2019 and 2020. EIA forecasts that the share of U.S. electric generation from coal will average 25% in 2019 and 22% in 2020, down from 28% in 2018. EIA’s forecast nuclear share of U.S. generation remains at about 20% in 2019 and in 2020. Hydropower averages a 7% share of total U.S. generation in the forecast for 2019 and 2020, similar to 2018. Wind, solar, and other nonhydropower renewables provided almost 10% of U.S. total utility-scale generation in 2018. EIA expects they will provide more than 10% in 2019 and 12% in 2020.
- EIA expects U.S. electric power sector generation from renewables other than hydropower—principally wind and solar—to grow from 414 billion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2019 to 471 billion kWh in 2020. In EIA’s forecast, Texas accounts for 19% of the U.S. nonhydropower renewables generation in 2019 and 22% in 2020. California’s forecast share is 15% in 2019 and 14% in 2020. The Midwest and Central power regions each see shares in the 16% to 17% range of the U.S. generation total from nonhydropower renewables in 2019 and 2020.
