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ERCOT sees gain in gas-fired generation, decline in coal capacity

An increase in the market share of natural gas-fired generation in Texas from January to February occurred alongside a decline in coal-fired generation due to capacity retirements, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest "Natural Gas Weekly Update" released March 15.

Citing the recent demand and energy report from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the EIA reported a growth of 3.2 percentage points in the generation share of natural gas in Texas to almost 42% from January to February, followed by an increase of roughly 1.5 percentage points in wind generation and an uptick of 1.1 percentage points in the share from nuclear power plants. By contrast, the share of coal-fired power plants in total generation reportedly fell from 28% in January to a little less than 23% in February.

"This decrease is largely the result of coal generation dropping significantly from the previous month (the largest difference between months in more than 15 years), and corresponds to a 34% drop in coal generation compared to an 18% drop in total generation from January to February," the EIA said.

Coal capacity was retired at three power plants in Texas, but new natural gas combined-cycle plants and wind power generators added in the previous year offset the impact of coal retirements. No coal capacity has been added in Texas since 2013.

Twelve coal-fired power plants with a net summer capacity of a little less than 15 GW are said to be operating in ERCOT, versus 120 natural gas-fired plants with a capacity of about 56 GW, according to the EIA.

The generation share of coal is likely to decrease further with another coal power plant retirement planned by the end of 2018, while generation from natural gas looks to continue expanding as natural gas-fired capacity accounts for nearly two-thirds of additional generation capacity projects planned to enter service in ERCOT between 2018 and 2022.