US coal-fired power generation totals 75.6 TWh in November, down 18.7% on year: EIA

Houston — US coal-fired power generation totaled 75.6 TWh in November, down 18.7% on year but up 13.1% from October, Energy Information Administration data showed Monday.

It was the first month-on-month increase since July.

From the five-year average of about 95.5 TWh produced in November, generation was at a 20.8% deficit this year, the lowest deficit in nine months.

Out of total power generation, coal took a 23.9% share, up 3.1 percentage points from October's share.

Coal capacity averaged 46% in November, up from 39.3% the month before and down from 53.7% in the year-ago month.

Natural gas contributed about 117 TWh in November, down 11.9% the month before and up 10% from the year-ago month.

Gas also took a 37.2% share of power generation, down from 41.5% in October and the lowest share in seven months.

From the five-year average of about 96.5 TWh in November, gas was up 22.1%.

The capacity factor for gas plants was 54.2%, compared with 54.8% in October. Capacity was up from 50.6% in the year-ago month.

Total renewable generation, including hydro, was 56.3 TWh, down 0.3% from October and up 2.3% from the year-ago month.

Renewables produced 17.8% of total generation in November, up slightly from 17.5% in the previous month.

Hydro produced 20.6 TWh in November, up 26.1% month on month and down 7.3 from the year-ago month. Utility solar produced 4.4 TWh, down 28.4% from the previous month and up 10.5% from the year-ago month. Wind produced 25.7 TWh, down 8.8% from October and up 14.2% from the year-ago month.

While hydro took 6.5% of generation, solar made up 1.4% and wind made 8.1%.

Capacity factors for renewables in November were 35.5% for wind, down month on month from 37.9%, 17.5% for solar, down from 23.5%, and 35.8% for hydro, up from 27.5%.