Apr 18, 2022 09:00:00

For the first time in the United States, wind power exceeds coal-fired power and nuclear power at the same time

It turns out that on March 29, 2022, the electricity generated by wind power in the United States surpassed coal-fired and nuclear power to become the second largest energy source in the United States. In the past, wind power has outperformed coal and nuclear power on different days, but this is the first time it has outperformed both on the same day.

Wind was second-largest source of US electricity generation on March 29 --Today in Energy --US Energy Information Administration (EIA)

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=52038

Below is a graph of the breakdown of power generation released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on April 14, beige for natural gas-fired power, green for wind power, red for nuclear power, and brown for coal-fired power. The electricity generated by wind power on March 29 was slightly higher than nuclear and coal-fired power.

According to the EIA, the

installed capacity of wind power generation in the United States, that is, the output when all facilities are fully operational, has been increasing consistently in recent years. As a result, the amount of power generated by wind power generation is also increasing, and in August 2019, the installed capacity of wind power generation exceeded the installed capacity of nuclear power. However, due to the difference in utilization rates, the actual amount of power generation continued to be lower than that of nuclear power.

Specifically, while the operating rate of wind power generation equipment in the United States was 35% in 2021, nuclear power generation equipment was 93%, and it was said that it was always operating at full output or close to it. Therefore, wind power has so far been positioned as the third energy source after natural gas-fired power generation and coal-fired power generation.

However, due to the combination of conditions such as the peak of wind power generation in spring and the drop in nuclear and coal-fired power output in spring and autumn when electricity demand is low, wind power generation will start in late March. For the first time in an hour, it became America's second largest energy source. However, since the monthly power generation of wind power generation is still lower than that of thermal power generation and nuclear power generation, it is expected that the monthly power generation amount will not exceed the thermal power generation until at least 2023.