May 2016, Vol. 71 No. 5
Newsline
EIA Acknowledges Natural Gas' Rise Over Coal As Fuel Leader
In early April, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that last year, for the first time on record, natural gas plants’ percentage of total potential electrical output generated and put onto the grid – also known as capacity factor – beat out that of coal plants. The findings show that last year in the U.S., natural gas plants ran at a capacity factor of 56 percent, compared to 55 percent of coal.
These figures shed light on a nationwide shift from coal to natural gas in recent years, while gas and renewable energy sources take an increasingly larger share of the grid.
The surge in natural gas production across many states, namely Texas and Pennsylvania, has flooded the market and forced down prices, making gas a more attractive option for power companies. Gas plant construction is now surging, and coal plants are retiring – 80 percent of 2015 plant retirements were coal.
In tandem, utilities are shifting to combined-cycle gas plants using both gas and steam to generate electricity, producing up to 50 percent more electricity from the same amount of fuel, the EIA said.
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