US Renewable Energy Produces More Electricity Than Coal

First Overtake in History... Increase in Solar and Wind Power Effective

Last year, renewable energy in the United States generated more electricity than coal and nuclear power.

On the 28th (local time), according to local media including ABC News, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced the day before that the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal reached 21% in 2022.

In the same year, the share of coal power generation fell by 3 percentage points from the previous year to 20%. This is the first time that renewable energy generation surpassed coal generation.

Nuclear power was also overtaken. Following the first time in 2021 when renewable energy generation exceeded nuclear energy generation, last year renewable energy also surpassed the share of nuclear power generation (19%).

The increase was mainly due to wind and solar power generation shares rising by about 2 percentage points from the previous year to reach 14%. Hydropower accounted for 6%, while biomass and geothermal were about 1% each. Natural gas accounted for 39%, increasing by 2 percentage points from the previous year.

Gregory Wetstone, president of the Renewable Energy Association, said, "Over the past decade, the levelized cost of wind energy has dropped by 70%, and solar power has decreased by an astonishing 90%. Renewable energy has become the cheapest energy source in many countries."

The EIA predicted that this year, wind energy's share of power generation will increase to 12%, and solar power to 5%. Natural gas is expected to remain at 39%, while coal is projected to decline further to 17%.

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