Electric Power Generation in The United States

The history of power generation is long and convoluted, marked by myriad technological milestones, conceptual and technical, from hundreds of contributors. This report will look at all the power generation sources conventional and non – conventional from a historic, economic, technological and safety perspective and compare the sources on various parameters and give a sense of the future trends in the industry and how the recent advancements in technology will impact the industry. Energy market projections are subject to much uncertainty, as many of the events that shape energy markets and future developments in technologies, demographics, and resources cannot be foreseen with certainty. This report will not go in detail about the generation techniques of the energy sources but give a brief overview of all the energy sources in the United States and give a sense of the latest developments in that sector.

Fossil fuels

In 2017, about 4, 015 billion kilowatts of energy was produced from utility scale facilities in the United States. About 63% of this was produced from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, petroleum and other gases). COAL Even though coal has been in decline in the past years (coal consumption went from 1112. 29 million short tons in 2006 to 716. 96 million short tons in 2017, a reduction of 35%), it is still the most used electricity generation source in 18 states and contributes to 30% of total electricity produced. Coal is still the most prevalent fuel for electricity in parts of Appalachia, including Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. It's also the leader in other major coal-producing states such as Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Utility coal power closures driven by market economics, environmental regulations and customers asking for cleaner energy were a regular occurrence throughout 2017. While President Trump’s ‘Energy Dominance agenda gave the false impression that federal efforts could revive the coal, 27 coal fired plants totaling 22 GW were announced for early closure or conversion in 2017, roughly 1 in every 15 days since Trump’s election. A survey of 16 largest utilities and power generators, which among them own half of the installed power capacity doesn’t bode well for coal power. Of the remaining nine in the top 16 power producers, four - NextEra Energy, Exelon, Calpine, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers don't operate any coal-fired power plants today. The last five NRG Energy (27% coal), American Electric Power (47% coal), MidAmerican Energy (30% coal), Entergy (9. 3% coal), and Talen (34% coal) have not publicly revealed their long-term plans, although some have taken part in coal's ongoing retirement party.

Natural gas

Data from the 2018 BP statistical world energy review has shown that last year the U. S. maintained a healthy lead as the global natural gas powerhouse. In 2017, the US produced an average of 71. 7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

In 2016, natural gas provided 34% of total electricity generation, surpassing coal to become the leading generation source. The increase in natural gas generation since 2005 is primarily a result of the continued cost competitiveness of natural gas relative to coal.

Natural gas is widely spread across the United States. Every state except Vermont has a natural gas power plant. In the past 15 years, nearly 228 gigawatts (GW) of capacity fueled by natural gas was added, far exceeding retirements of 54 GW. Over that same period, 20 GW of coal-fired capacity was added, while more than 53 GW was retired.

How natural gas is replacing coal: A coal power plant is on an average 33% efficient. A natural gas power plant that runs on a Combined Cycle using a gas turbine who’s exhaust gas is used to run a steam turbine which generates more electricity has an efficiency of 50%. Burning Natural gas emits 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) when combusted in the Combined Cycle Power Plant. It also produces up to 50% more electricity when compared to a traditional coal plant and does not release many of the toxic elements like mercury and Sulphur. A study by the Institute for Energy Research, published in 2016, documented that natural gas is 16% less expensive than coal power. With huge and easily accessible domestic reserves of natural gas assuring prices will remain low, the prices of building new natural gas power plants are easily dwarfed by the per month price of utilizing natural gas power. The decade long economic benefits of replacing coal power with natural gas with continue in the future as well.

Oil

Before the oil embargo by the OPEC nations, the US was dependent on foreign oil for its energy need, today oil contributes to only 0. 7% of the total energy production. This change was due to The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) enacted in November 1978, designed to get rid of America’s dependency on foreign oil and encourage competition in the generation sector. This resulted in large scale adoption of coal for power plants, which the US has in abundance, (enough for the next 250 years at the current rate of consumption) and started the drive towards renewable energies.

Nuclear

Nuclear contributes to 20% of the energy mix in the United States. Only a decade ago nuclear that was advertised as ‘too cheap to meter’ has now become too costly for utilities to buy. Apart from two 1000 MW reactors being built in Georgia at enormous cost to taxpayers, there are no prospects of nuclear power plants in the US. A combination of low natural gas prices, negative public perception and the recent boom in wind and solar has rendered them unable to compete in the states with price competition for power. Five nuclear plants have been shut down in the past decade and another dozen could shut down in the coming decade.