US coal plant contribution to electric grid plummets to smallest in history: report

In the first quarter of 2023, coal-fired power plants contributed the least amount of power to the U.S. electricity market in history, a new report has found.

Coal made up less than 17 percent of the power market in the first three months of this year — down a quarter from last year’s 22 percent, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

At the same time, renewables — wind, solar and hydropower — rose to above 22 percent of the power market across all national grids, the report found.

The collapsing economics of coal — which is under threat from both rising renewables and comparatively cheaper gas — have led to a spate of coal power plant closures, as The Hill has reported.

Texas is one particular canary in the industry mine. The renewable and gas powerhouse has dramatically cut its demand for coal even as its overall demand for power has shot up.

In less than a decade, coal and renewables have switched places in the state power market. Since 2014, Texas has cut coal demand from nearly 40 percent of its supply to below 12 percent — while renewables surged from 12 percent to 40 percent.

Other major power markets — the midwest’s Midcontinent Independent System Operator; the southeast’s Southern Company balancing area; and the Southwest Power Pool — have followed the same trajectory.

In the traditionally coal-dependent states of Georgia and Alabama, power from the region’s largest coal plant — the Bowen plant — fell to nearly a fifth of its capacity in January, according to IEEFA.

The think tank expects that number to fall even further as a new regional nuclear plant comes online early next year. That plant is now about 84 percent complete, according to Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power.

IEEFA expects those numbers to keep deteriorating as spring winds and lengthening days raise the power supply from wind and solar. 

“Coupled with forecasts for continued low gas prices and an uncertain outlook for electricity growth, it is shaping up to be a truly difficult year for coal-fired generators,” the authors wrote.