US coal-fired power generation totals 78.7 TWh in December, highest in five months: EIA

US coal-fired power generation totaled 78.7 TWh in December, up 28.3% from November and the highest level of generation in five months, US Energy Information Administration data said late Feb. 25.

Year on year, monthly generation rose 8.4%, and from the five-year average of about 97.5 TWh in December, generation was at a 19.3% deficit this year.

Coal generated a monthly average of 64.5 TWh in 2020, compared with 80.4 TWh in 2019.

Out of total power generation, coal took a 22.9% share, the highest in five months. Throughout the year, coal share averaged 19.1%, compared with 23.3% in the previous year.

Coal capacity averaged 48.6% in December, up from 39% in the previous month and the largest percentage since August. Annual coal capacity averaged 40.1% in 2020, compared with 47.4% in 2019.

Natural gas contributed nearly 126 TWh in December, up 15.3% from the previous month and down 4.7% from the year-ago month. The monthly average for gas was 135 TWh, up from 132 TWh in the year before.

Gas took a 36.4% share of power generation, up 0.4 percentage points from November. In 2020, gas averaged 40.1% of total US generation, compared with 38.2% in 2019.

From the five-year average of 112 TWh for the month of December, gas was up 12.4%.

The capacity factor for gas plants was 54% in December, up 2.7 percentage points from the previous month. Throughout the year, capacity averaged 56.6%, down from 57.2% in the previous year.

Renewable generation

Total renewable generation, including hydro, was about 67.3 TWh, down 0.3% month on month and up 16.5% from the year-ago month. Monthly renewables generation averaged 66 TWh in 2020, up from 60.7% in 2019.

Renewables produced 19.5% of total generation in December, down from 22.3% in the previous month, the average generation share throughout the year was 20%, compared with 17.8% in the previous year.

Hydro produced about 23.1 TWh in December, up 5.7% month on month and up 7.5% from the year-ago month. It averaged 24.3 TWh throughout 2020, compared with 24 TWh in 2019.

Utility solar produced 5.8 TWh, down 8.7% from the previous month and up 55.8% from the year-ago month, and it averaged 7.6 TWh during the year, up from 6 TWh in the previous year.

Wind produced 32.5 TWh, down 3.7% from November and up 21.8% from the year-ago month. Throughout 2020, wind generation averaged 28.2 TWh, compared with the previous year's average of 24.7 TWh.

While hydro took 6.7% of generation in December, down 0.5 percentage point from November, solar made up 1.6%, down 0.3 percentage point, and wind made 9.4%, down from 11.1% the month before.

Hydro's monthly average throughout the year was 7.3%, solar was 2.3 and wind was 8.6%, compared with 7%, 1.7% and 7.3% in 2019.

Capacity factors for renewables in December were 37.1% for wind, down from 42% month on month, 15.7% for solar, down from 18.6%, and 38.8% for hydro, up from 37.9%. While wind capacity averaged 35.5% in 2020, solar averaged 24.9% and hydro 41.6% throughout 2020, compared with 34.3%, 24.3% and 41.2% in 2019.