Electricity
- EIA forecasts that consumption of electricity in the United States will increase by 1.6% in 2021 after falling 3.8% in 2020. EIA forecasts residential sector retail sales will grow by 2.2% in 2021. The increase is primarily a result of colder forecast temperatures in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020, which EIA expects will raise demand for space heating, along with EIA’s assumption that more people will be working from home than in the first quarter of 2020. EIA expects retail sales of electricity in the commercial and industrial sectors will increase by 1.2% and 2.3%, respectively. For 2022, EIA forecasts total electricity consumption will grow by another 1.7%.
- EIA expects the share of U.S. electric power generated with natural gas to fall from 39% in 2020 to 37% in 2021 and to 35% in 2022. The forecast natural gas share declines in response to a forecast increase in the price of natural gas delivered to electricity generators from an average of $2.38/MMBtu in 2020 to $3.27/MMBtu in 2021 (a 37% increase). Coal’s forecast share of electricity generation rises from 20% in 2020 to 21% in 2021 and to 22% in 2022. Electricity generation from renewable energy sources rises from 20% in 2020 to 21% in 2021 and to 23% in 2022. The nuclear share of U.S. generation declines from 21% in 2020 to 20% in 2021 and to 19% in 2022.
- EIA forecasts that planned additions to U.S. wind and solar generating capacity in 2021 and 2022 will contribute to increasing electricity generation from those sources. EIA estimates that the U.S. electric power sector added 17.5 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity in 2020. EIA expects 15.3 GW of wind capacity will be added in 2021 and 3.6 GW in 2022. Utility-scale solar capacity rose by an estimated 11.1 GW in 2020. The forecast for added utility-scale solar capacity is 16.2 GW for 2021 and 12.3 GW for 2022.