Renewable power generation in US surpasses nuclear, coal first time ever - EIA

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 28. Renewable power generation in the US in 2021 surpassed nuclear and coal generation for the fist time ever, Trend reports citing the latest market update from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

"Last year, the US electric power sector produced 4,090 million megawatthours (MWh) of electric power. In 2022, generation from renewable sources - wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal - surpassed coal-fired generation in the electric power sector for the first time," the report said.

As the EIA noted, US' renewable generation continued to provide more electricity than nuclear generation in 2022 as well.

According to the data, US' coal-fired generation's share in the total energy greed decreased from 23 percent in 2021 to 20 percent in 2022 as a number of coal-fired power plants retired and the remaining plants were used less. At the same time, the share of nuclear generation decreased from 20 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2022.

"The combined wind and solar share of total generation increased from 12 percent in 2021 to 14 percent in 2022. Hydropower generation remained unchanged, at 6 percent, in 2022. The shares for biomass and geothermal sources remained unchanged, at less than 1 percent," EIA added.