Profile AnalysisPrint State Energy Profile
(overview, data, & analysis)
Last Updated: November 17, 2022
Overview
Delaware is the nation's second-smallest state and is only about 100 miles long and 30 miles wide. It is located on the Delmarva Peninsula, which it shares with parts of Maryland and Virginia. To the east are the river and bay that share Delaware's name and to the southeast is the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to its boundaries with Maryland to the west and south, Delaware is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, and by New Jersey across the river to the north and east.1 The Fall Line, a narrow zone of rapids and waterfalls, separates a small area of rolling hills in northernmost Delaware from the flat coastal plain that covers most of the state.2 Swiftly moving rivers that flow down from the hills supported the state's early economic development when a variety of mills were active in the Wilmington area in northern Delaware.3 Today, Delaware's economy does not rely on hydropower. However, most of Delaware's population of about 1 million people still reside in the northern part of the state near its borders with densely populated New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.4,5 Delaware has renewable resources, including solar, biomass, and wind energy. Although it has no fossil fuel reserves, it does receive and refine crude oil.6,7
In 2020, Delaware consumed almost 70 times more energy than it produced.
Delaware produces less total energy than any other state, and it consumes much more energy than the state produces. In 2020, Delaware's total energy consumption was almost 70 times greater than the amount of energy the state produced. However, Delaware used less energy than all but three other states, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Hawaii.8,9 Delaware's per capita energy consumption is near the national average due in part to the balance between its ocean-moderated climate, a service-based economy, its small population, and its energy-intensive manufacturing industries.10,11,12 Delaware is home to chemical plants, food-processing companies, and petroleum-refining, but financial services including banking, insurance, real estate, and the corporate headquarters for more than one million businesses—including two-thirds of the nation's Fortune 500 corporations—contribute more to Delaware's gross domestic product (GDP) than any other business activities.13,14,15 In 2020, the industrial sector, including agriculture, was Delaware's largest energy consumer and accounted for 31% of the state's total energy consumption.16 Chemical manufacturing and petroleum refining are the largest contributors to the state's industrial GDP, and poultry farming, specifically broilers, accounts for the largest share of the state's farm income.17,18 The transportation sector used 26% of the state's energy, the residential consumed about 23%, and the commercial sector used 20%.19
Petroleum
Delaware does not have any crude oil reserves or production, but it does have one petroleum refinery.20,21 The Port of Wilmington, which is the world's largest port for handling bananas and the nation's leading entry point for fresh fruit and produce, also has a bulk petroleum terminal and a storage depot that handles heating oil, diesel fuel, and many other petroleum products. Crude oil from around the world arrives at the port and at a smaller port at Delaware City, nine nautical miles downriver from Wilmington. Delaware City is the site of the state's only crude oil refinery.22,23,24 The refinery relies on crude oil supplies delivered via ship and rail, and can process more than 170,000 barrels per calendar day into motor gasoline, home heating oil, and other petroleum products.25 The Delaware City refinery connects to a petroleum product distribution network that includes pipelines, barges, tankers, trucks, and railroads.26
About one in six Delaware households heat with fuel oil or propane.
Petroleum supplies the largest share of the energy used in Delaware and accounts for about two-fifths of the state's total energy consumption.27 In 2020, Delaware used more petroleum per capita than about three-fifths of the states.28 The transportation sector was Delaware's largest petroleum consumer, accounting for 68% of the petroleum used in the state. About half of that was motor gasoline.29,30 Delaware requires the use of reformulated motor gasoline blended with ethanol throughout the state to limit the formation of smog and toxic pollutants.31 In 2020, the industrial sector accounted for about 24% of the petroleum consumed in the state, and the residential sector, where almost one in six households use either propane or fuel oil as their primary energy source for home heating, consumed about 4%. The commercial sector used most of the rest except for a very small amount that the electric power sector used to generate electricity.32,33
Natural gas
Delaware does not have any natural gas reserves or production. Although exploration wells were drilled in the 1970s and 1980s in waters off Delaware's Atlantic Coast, only noncommercial quantities of natural gas were found.34,35,36 All of Delaware's natural gas supplies arrive by interstate pipeline from Pennsylvania, and about one-tenth of that natural gas continues on to Maryland's Eastern Shore, which occupies the western portion of the Delmarva Peninsula.37
Delaware's annual natural gas consumption declined from its 2016 peak of almost 109 billion cubic feet to about 82 billion in 2021, in large part because of a decline in the amount of natural gas used for power generation.38,39 In 2021, Delaware's industrial sector was the state's largest natural gas-consuming sector, and had been since 2019 when it surpassed the electric power sector. In 2021, the industrial sector accounted for two-fifths of the natural gas delivered to Delaware consumers, while the electric power sector accounted for slightly more than one-fourth of the state' natural gas use, a decrease from half in 2016. The commercial sector accounted for almost one-fifth of Delaware's natural gas deliveries while the residential sector, where more than two in five households rely on natural gas for space heating, accounted for about one-seventh.40 The transportation sector uses an insignificant amount of natural gas as fuel, and there are only two compressed natural gas fueling stations in the state—one public and one private.41,42 Because of its small population, Delaware consumes less natural gas than all but a handful of states; however, its per capita natural gas consumption is greater than in more than half the states.43
Electricity
In 2021, natural gas fueled 86% of Delaware’s utility-scale in-state electricity generation.
Natural gas fuels most of Delaware's in-state power generation. The contribution of natural gas-fired power plants to Delaware's electricity net generation increased dramatically after 2009 and peaked in 2016. Although the amount of power supplied by natural gas declined with the decrease in state power generation overall, its share of the state's utility-scale net generation continued to increase, rising from 51% in 2010 to 94% in 2020. In 2021, the state's net generation from all energy sources fell to less than half of the 2016 peak, in part because of lower demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, and natural gas' share of utility-scale generation dropped to 86%.44 Natural gas fuels 7 of the 10 largest power plants in the state as measured by both capacity and annual generation.45 Overall, as natural gas-fired generation increased, coal's share of state generation decreased. Coal-fired power plants provided 46% of Delaware's net generation in 2010, but only 7% in 2021, all of it from the state's one remaining coal-fired power plant.46 That coal-fired plant, located in southern Delaware, is scheduled to close in late 2026.47 Manufactured gases, renewables, and petroleum liquids fueled the rest of the state's utility-scale electricity generation in 2021.48 Delaware does not have any nuclear power plants.49
Delaware's electricity retail sales are less than in all but five other states. However, on a per capita basis Delaware consumes more electricity than one-third of the other states. Delaware also is among the top 20 states in residential electricity retail sales per capita.50 As a result, in-state generation typically supplies much less electricity than Delaware needs. In 2020, only 47% of the electricity sold in the state was generated in Delaware. The rest came from out-of-state power suppliers via the regional electric grid.51 In 2021, Delaware's residential sector, where almost one in three households rely on electricity for home heating, accounted for 45% of the state's electricity retail sales.52 The commercial sector accounted for 36% and the industrial sector accounted for 19%.53 Although the transportation sector uses only a small amount of electricity Delaware offers rebates for the use of all-electric vehicles (EVs).54,55 There are 142 EV charging stations in the state and more are planned.56,57
Renewable energy
Renewable resources contributed almost 7% of Delaware's total electricity net generation from utility- and small-scale facilities in 2021. Solar energy alone supplied about 5% of the state's total net generation, and biomass accounted for almost 2%.58 The state has almost a dozen utility-scale solar facilities that use solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, the largest of which has a generating capacity of nearly 12 megawatts.59 However, in 2021, Delaware generated more than twice as much electricity from small-scale, customer-sited (less than 1 megawatt) solar PV installations, such as rooftop solar panels, than from utility-scale solar facilities.60 Biomass, in the form of landfill gas, fuels two utility-scale biomass power plants in Delaware. Those plants have a combined net generating capacity of about 7 megawatts.61 A biomass processing plant that will use anaerobic digestion to generate renewable natural gas from chicken manure is in development at a site in the southern part of the state.62,63 A small number of Delaware households use renewable resources directly for home heating—almost 1% rely on wood for heat and about 0.2% use solar thermal energy for heating.64
Delaware’s RPS requires that 40% of electricity sales come from renewable sources by 2035.
Delaware has limited onshore wind energy resources, mostly along the state's shorelines.65 The first and, so far, only onshore utility-scale wind facility operating in the state is a 2-megawatt wind turbine installed in 2010 at the University of Delaware campus in the town of Lewes on the Delaware Bay.66,67 The state has significant wind energy resources farther offshore, and one wind project, Skipjack, is in development in federal waters about 19 miles from the southern Delaware Atlantic coast. That project will have 120 megawatts of generating capacity and is scheduled to come online at the end of 2023. Although that wind farm will be located in the federal government's designated Delaware wind energy offshore lease area, the electricity generated there will be sent to customers in Maryland.68,69,70 Delaware has no utility-scale hydroelectric generation.71
First adopted in 2005, Delaware's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) required that 10% of the electricity sold in the state be generated from renewables by 2020. In 2010, the RPS was expanded to 25% by 2025, with at least 3.5% of electricity sales generated from solar energy. In 2021, a further expansion increased the requirement to 40% of electricity sales from renewable sources by 2035, including 10% from solar energy.72,73
Coal
Delaware does not have any coal reserves or production.74 The small amount of coal consumed in the state arrives by rail from West Virginia and Pennsylvania and is delivered to the electric power sector.75 In 2021, the state's one remaining coal-fired power plant, the 410-megawatt Indian River Generating Station, consumed all of the coal used for electricity generation in Delaware. The plant operates infrequently and is scheduled for retirement at the end of 2026.76
Endnotes
1 World Atlas, Delaware, accessed October 14, 2022.
2 NETSTATE, Delaware, The Geography of Delaware, updated February 25, 2016.
3 World Port Source, Delaware, The Port of Wilmington, Review and History, accessed October 15, 2022.
4 U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Delaware, and New Castle County, Population, accessed October 14, 2022.
5 U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census: Delaware Profile, Population Density by Census Tract.
6 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Delaware, Net generation for all sectors, All fuels, All solar, Biomass, Wind, 2021.
7 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Delaware Profile Data, Reserves, accessed October 15, 2022.
8 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table P3, Energy Production and Consumption Estimates in Trillion Btu, 2020.
9 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table F33, Total Energy Consumption, Price, and Expenditure Estimates, 2020.
10 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table C14, Total Energy Consumption Estimates per Capita by End-Use Sector, Ranked by State, 2020.
11 Brinson, Kevin, "A First Look at the Climate of the First State," Delaware's Climate, The CoCoRaHS ‘State Climates' Series, accessed October 15, 2022.
12 NETSTATE, Delaware, Delaware Economy, Services, updated December 19, 2017.
13 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Interactive Data, GDP and Personal Income, Regional Data, Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by State, GDP in current dollars, Delaware, All statistics in table, 2021.
14 NETSTATE, Delaware, Delaware Economy, updated December 19, 2017.
15 Delaware Division of Corporations, About the Division of Corporations, accessed October 15, 2022.
16 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table F33, Total Energy Consumption, Price, and Expenditure Estimates, 2020.
17 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, State Fact Sheets: Delaware, Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties, Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2021.
18 NETSTATE, Delaware, Delaware Economy, Agriculture, updated December 19, 2017.
19 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table F33, Total Energy Consumption, Price, and Expenditure Estimates, 2020.
20 U.S. EIA, Crude Oil Proved Reserves, Reserves Changes, and Production, Estimated Production and Proved Reserves as of 12/31, 2015-20.
21 U.S. EIA, Number and Capacity of Petroleum Refineries, Delaware, Annual, 2022.
22 World Port Source, The Port of Wilmington, Port Commerce, accessed October 16, 2022.
23 U.S. EIA, Crude Imports, Imports of all grades to Delaware 2021.
24 World Port Source, Port of Delaware City, Review and History, and Port Commerce, accessed October 16, 2022.
25 U.S. EIA, Number and Capacity of Petroleum Refineries, Delaware, Annual, 2022.
26 PBF Energy, Refineries, Delaware City, Delaware, accessed October 16, 2022.
27 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table C1, Energy Consumption Overview: Estimates by Energy Source and End-Use Sector, 2020.
28 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table C15, Petroleum Consumption Total and per Capita, Ranked by State, 2020.
29 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table F16, Total Petroleum Consumption Estimates, 2020.
30 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table C3, Primary Energy Consumption Estimates, 2020.
31 Larson, B. K., U.S. Gasoline Requirements, ExxonMobil (January 2018).
32 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table F16, Total Petroleum Consumption Estimates, 2020.
33 U.S. Census Bureau, House Heating Fuel, Table B25040, 2021 ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Delaware.
34 The Delaware Geological Survey, A Summary of the Geologic History of Delaware, Atlantic Coastal Plain, accessed October 16, 2022.
35 U.S. EIA, Natural Gas Reserves Summary as of Dec. 31, Dry Natural Gas, Annual, 2015-20.
36 U.S. EIA, Natural Gas Gross Withdrawals and Production, Gross Withdrawals, Annual, 2016-21.
37 U.S. EIA, International and Interstate Movements of Natural Gas by State, Delaware, 2016-21.
38 U.S. EIA, Delaware Natural Gas Total Consumption, Annual, 1997-2021.
39 U.S. EIA, Delaware Natural Gas Deliveries to Electric Power Consumers, Annual, 1997-2021.
40 U.S. Census Bureau, House Heating Fuel, Table B25040, 2021 ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Delaware.
41 U.S. EIA, Natural Gas Consumption by End Use, Delaware, 2016-21.
42 U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center, Alternative Fueling Station Locator, Advanced Filters, Delaware, Compressed Natural Gas, Access Public and Private, Available, accessed October 16, 2022.
43 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table C16, Natural Gas Consumption, Total and per Capita, Ranked by State, 2020.
44 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net Generation for All Sectors, Delaware, All fuels, Natural gas, Small-scale solar photovoltaic, Annual, 2001-21.
45 U.S. EIA, Delaware Electricity Profile 2020, Tables 2A, 2B.
46 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net Generation for All Sectors, Delaware, All fuels, Coal, Small-scale solar photovoltaic, Annual, 2001-21.
47 U.S. EIA, Electricity, Form EIA-860 detailed data with previous form data (EIA-860A/860B), 2021 Form EIA-860 Data, Schedule 3, 'Generator Data' (Operable Units Only).
48 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net Generation for All Sectors, Delaware, Fuel Type (Check all), Annual, 2001-21.
49 U.S. EIA, Nuclear and Uranium, Nuclear Reactor, State, and Net Capacity (September 2021).
50 U.S. EIA, State Energy Data System, Table C17, Electricity Retail Sales, Total and Residential, Total and per Capita, Ranked by State, 2020.
51 U.S. EIA, Delaware Electricity Profile 2020, Tables 1, 10.
52 U.S. Census Bureau, House Heating Fuel, Table B25040, 2021 ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Delaware.
53 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Retail sales of electricity, Delaware, End-Use Sector (Check all), Annual, 2001-21.
54 U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center, Delaware Laws and Incentives, accessed October 28, 2022.
55 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, "Delaware Extends Electric Vehicle Rebate Program," Press Release (May 12, 2022).
56 U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center, Alternative Fueling Station Locator, Advanced Filters, Delaware, Electric, Public Access, accessed October 28, 2022.
57 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, "DNREC, DelDOT To Deploy New EV Charging Stations Along State's Major Travel Routes Via BIL Initiative Funding," Press Release (August 9, 2022).
58 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net generation for all sectors, Delaware, All fuels, Conventional hydroelectric, Other renewables, Wind, All utility-scale solar, Biomass, Small-scale solar photovoltaic, Annual, 2021.
59 U.S. EIA, Electricity, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (based on Form EIA-860M as a supplement to Form EIA-860), Inventory of Operating Generators as of August 2022.
60 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net generation for all sectors, Delaware, All fuels, All utility-scale solar, Small-scale solar photovoltaic, Annual, 2021.
61 U.S. EIA, Electricity, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (based on Form EIA-860M as a supplement to Form EIA-860), Inventory of Operating Generators as of August 2022, Delaware.
62 Tabeling, Katie, "Sussex approves Bioenergy Devco litter digester plant," Delaware Business Times (April 20, 2021).
63 Bioenergy Innovation Center, Expansion Project, accessed October 21, 2022.
64 U.S. Census Bureau, House Heating Fuel, Table B25040, 2021 ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Delaware.
65 U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, WINDExchange, Wind Energy in Delaware, Maps & Data, accessed October 21, 2022.
66 U.S. EIA, Electricity, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (based on Form EIA-860M as a supplement to Form EIA-860), Inventory of Operating Generators as of August 2022, Delaware, Technology: Onshore Wind Turbine.
67 University of Delaware, UD's Wind Turbine, accessed October 21, 2022.
68 U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, WINDExchange, Virginia-Maryland-New Jersey-Delaware Offshore Wind Speed at 100 Meters, accessed October 21, 2022.
69 Orsted, Skipjack Wind Farm, accessed October 21, 2022.
70 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Renewable Energy, Delaware Activities, accessed October 21, 2022.
71 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net Generation for All Sectors, Delaware, All fuels, Conventional hydroelectric, Annual, 2001-21.
72 NC Clean Energy Technology Center, DSIRE, Delaware Renewables Portfolio Standard, updated October 15, 2021.
73 U.S. EIA, Electricity Data Browser, Net Generation for All Sectors, Delaware, All fuels, Conventional hydroelectric, Other renewables, All utility-scale solar, Small-scale solar photovoltaic, Annual, 2001-21.
74 U.S. EIA, Annual Coal Report 2021 (October 2022), Tables 6 and 15.
75 U.S. EIA, Annual Coal Distribution Report 2021 (October 2022), Domestic distribution of U.S. coal by: Destination state, consumer, destination and method of transportation, Delaware, Table DS-7, Domestic Coal Distribution, by Destination State, 2021.
76 U.S. EIA, Electricity, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (based on Form EIA-860M as a supplement to Form EIA-860), Inventory of Operating Generators as of August 2022, Delaware, Technology: Conventional Steam Coal.