HIGHLIGHTS: EIA’S LATEST “ELECTRIC POWER MONTHLY” REPORT
April 24, 2024
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Solar Was the Fastest Growing Source of Electricity in the U.S. in January-February
The latest issue of EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through February 29, 2024) reveals that in the first two months of 2024, electrical generation by solar (including small-scale distributed systems) grew by 25.8%, compared to the same period in 2023 – faster than any other energy source. Estimated small-scale solar PV accounted for 31.6% of total solar output.
The mix of utility-scale and small-scale solar PV plus utility-scale solar thermal provided 4.40% of the nation’s electrical output in the two-month period compared to the same time frame in 2023 when solar’s share was 3.75%.
For perspective, solar’s year-to-date share first reached 1.0% in March 2016. Since then, solar’s monthly generation has increased (in comparison to the corresponding prior months) every year.
Electrical Generation by Wind, Hydro, Biomass, and Geothermal All Fell
Compared to the same two-month period in 2023, electrical generation by all non-solar renewables fell in January-February 2024.
Geothermal was 7.8% lower. The mix of wood, wood-derived fuels, and other biomass fell by 6.1%. Wind was down by 5.9%. Hydropower dipped by 0.3%.
However, increased solar generation offset the diminished output of the other renewable energy sources so total renewable energy production was actually 0.6% higher in January-February 2024 than it was in the same two-month period a year.
On the other hand, total electrical generation by all sources, including fossil fuels and nuclear power, was 7.2% higher than last year. As a consequence, renewables’ share fell from 23.31% in the first two months of 2023 to 21.87% in the first two months of 2024.
Renewables May Be Rebounding
Notwithstanding the decreased output by the non-solar renewables in the first two months of this year, EIA’s data for just February 2024 suggests that they may be rebounding a bit.
Electrical output by hydropower was actually 4.9% higher in February 2024 than in February 2023.
Generation by wind, biomass, and geothermal in February alone was still lower than the prior year but by smaller margins than for the two-month January-February period. Biomass was down by 4.9%, geothermal by 2.5%, and wind by 1.3%.
Moreover, solar output – including small-scale systems – in just February was 30.4% higher than a year earlier.
As a consequence, in February 2024, electrical generation by the mix of all renewables was actually 5.4% higher than a year ago. Moreover, renewables’ share of total electrical generation in February 2024 rebounded to 25.8% compared to 25.4% in February 2023.
In February, Renewables Held Their Own Against Coal and Nuclear Power
In February 2024, electrical generation by the mix of all renewables surpassed nuclear power by 30.1%.
Similarly, in February 2024, the mix of all renewables generated 90.1% more electricity than did coal. In fact, the combination of just wind and solar out-produced coal by 34.9%.
EIA’s latest “Electric Power Monthly” report was released on April 24, 2024. For the data cited here, see Table ES1.A “Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics 2024 and 2023” and Table ES1.B. “Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, Year-to-Date 2024 and 2023” are here and here.
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