Amid surging demand from data centers (AI, cloud, crypto) and increasing share of EVs.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
The quantity of electricity generated in the US by all sources, from natural gas to rooftop solar, rose by 3.1% in 2024 from 2023 to a record of 4,304,039 gigawatt-hours (GWh), according to data from the EIA today.
This is now clearly a breakout in demand, after 14 years of stagnation, from 2007 through 2021, when electricity users, to reduce their costs, invested in more efficient equipment – lights, appliances, electronic equipment, industrial equipment, heating and air-conditioning, etc. – and in better building insulation, shading, etc., to reduce their power costs. This relentless drive for greater efficiency kept demand roughly stable for years despite the growing economy and population. And it mired many power generators and electric utilities in a no-growth business where it was difficult to justify investment.
Now the scenario has changed, largely due to the growth in demand from data centers (AI, cloud, crypto) and the increasing penetration of EVs in the national vehicle fleet – EVs accounted for over 10% of US vehicle sales in 2024.
The share of total electricity generated by source:
Natural gas rules. Power generation from natural gas rose by 3.3% to a record of 1,864,874 GWh in 2024.
The share of natural gas as source for power generation remained roughly unchanged in 2024, matching the record of 42.7% of 2023, about double its share in 2007. Natural gas had surpassed nuclear in 2006 and coal in 2016 (blue in the chart below).
The US is the largest natural gas producer and the largest LNG exporter in the word. Production has oversupplied the US market and has caused the price of natural gas to collapse since 2009.
The modern combined-cycle gas turbine powerplants have a thermal efficiency of around 65%, nearly double that of older coal powerplants. These two – low price of US natural gas and the high efficiency of the combined-cycle plants – made natural gas immensely attractive for power generators.
Coal power generation fell by 3.3% to 652,760 GWh in 2024. Its share dropped to a record low of 14.9% of total power generation, down from 51% in 2001 (black in the chart below).
Coal cannot compete with cheap natural gas and the efficiency of a combined-cycle gas turbine powerplant. More recently, wind power became more cost-efficient than coal. It all boils down to costs. Gas is cheap. With renewables, the “fuel” is free; and all methods of power generation require costly plants, equipment, maintenance.
Power generators have not built any new coal-fired power plants over the past decade. They’re too inefficient and expensive to operate.
And they’ve been retiring their old inefficient and expensive-to-operate coal-fired power plants. In 2025, of the 12.3 Gigawatts (GW) of capacity that power generators plan to retire, 66% are old coal-fired plants, 21% are old natural-gas-fired plants, 13% are old petroleum-fired plants.
Generation from all renewables combined – wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass – rose by 3.1% to a record 1,061,258 GWh, driven by surging generation from wind (+7.7%) and solar (+26.9%).
The share of all renewables combined increased to 24.2% of total power generation (red). More on them separately in a moment.
Nuclear power generation edged up 0.9% to 781,979 GWh, and its share edged down to 17.8% of total generation (green).
The share of petroleum liquids and petroleum coke declined to 0.3%, having nearly vanished as source of power generation. The planned retirements this year will further reduce generation (purple).
Power generation from renewables.
Wind power generation jumped by 7.7% in 2024, to a record 453,454 GWh. Its share grew to 10.3% of total power generation (red in the chart below).
The Big Five states for utility-scale wind-power generation in 2023, according to separate EIA data, in GWh and % share of US wind power generation:
- Texas: 119,836 GWh, 28%
- Iowa: 41,869 GWh, 10%
- Oklahoma: 37,731 GWh, 9%
- Kansas: 27,462 GWh, 6.5%
- Illinois: 22,054 GWh, 5%
Solar power generation – utility scale and rooftop solar – surged 26.9% to 303,167 GWh. Its share ballooned to 6.9% of the total power generated, surpassing hydropower (yellow).
Wind and solar combined had a share of 17.2% of total power production in the US, a higher share than coal, and close to nuclear.
Power generation from small-scale solar – such as rooftop systems on homes, retail stores, parking garages, etc. – jumped 15.3% to 84,630 GWh, for a share of 1.9% of total power generated in 2024.
Hydropower generation dipped 1.1% to 242,226 GWh. Its share declined to 5.5% of total power generation (blue).
Biomass power generation declined 1.0% to 46,740 GWh, and its share eased to 1.1% of total power generated. Biomass includes wood and wood-derived fuels, landfill gas, and other waste biomass (black).
Geothermal remained at a minuscule share of 0.4% of total power generated. Most geothermal plants were built in the 1970s in California (green).
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Energy is like money; the more you have the more you spend. Which is why the whole idea of replacing fossil fuels or existing nuc’s is impossible. We’ll use everything we can get until there is no more.
Tell that to coal.
Exactly, humans are incapable of restraint for the sake of their offspring, so let’s hope something more intelligent takes over the stewardship of our only liveable planet.
Yes, impossible. Especially since renewable sources cannot be built, maintained and decommissioned without copious use of fossil fuels. just say ‘in.
Thank gawd we’re not wasting that coal anymore. The kids in the future are gonna need all they can get when they find out that untangling the national train wreck will be dependent upon new steam-powered locomotives and lifting cranes. Probably a good time to stock up on overalls and gauntlet gloves too before they quit making them. At least there will be a new use for all that recycled steel after they dismantle the towers of terror built for un-needed office space.
The renewable increases are pleasantly surprising. I’m glad it’s making a dent and hopefully will keep nuclear at bay. Now if someone could figure out how to monetize energy conservation, we could start saving the earth:)
You got people in power now directing that we destroy the Earth and stop any attempts not to, even if they were completely harmless. All out of spite.
The serious concern is that once wind and solar get above 20% of the grid’s sources, reliability becomes a much greater problem, and one that cannot be ignored. remember, too, that wind and solar require backups for all those times they don’t work, so while wind, itself, may be cheap, its cost to a grid is twice as much because you need a gas plant as well to run when the wind isn’t blowing.
Batteries! Ask Elon Musk about them. They’re making him another fortune.
Human race is adapting and and innovating all the time. Oil Gas and Coal are definitely finite resources for the time we are on this earth. Looks like renewables becoming a meaningful reality. I drive through Texas Ok and Kansas and the windmills I think are a marvel . But I’m a build stuff and use stuff human with no interest in conservation of energy for the benefit of the next generation . I’ll let them figure out how they need to adapt. USA and EU can stop driving and use public transportation and then the Asians and Africans that have been walking and riding animals for centuries can start to enjoy the cheap energy. That just sounds so stupid to me.
I love my V8s and big vehicles . Driving my Hemi Ram Truck for 10 hrs at 68 able to pass Semis on the Freeways and carry what I want . Why would I not if I can? Humans are the ultimate consumer.
Question for this group.
Any hypocrisy from Big Tech and previous Chips Act subsidies (Wold wrote about how that subsidy made zero sense and adding to raging inflation ) that is creating explosive needs for new power generation across the global economy?
Why are the Magnificent 5 not protesting and boycotting chip sales growth ?
Of course NVDA and TSLA needs the growth so they can’t participate.
Go Power! Go oil and gas coal wind solar nuclear and anything else that we can generate and use . I hope they all win a race in different parts of the world for our enjoyment .
Many rural residents in MD are freaking out as “They (powers that be)” are about to build a new high voltage line through the otherwise beautiful countryside to act as a redundant source for the massive data center campus they are building in southern Frederick county.
I live in town, but find this appalling. They could at least bury it all. And, this is the problem with living in the country: you can have whatever spectacular view, and some ass can come along and ruin it for you, whether it’s this or a guy putting up a trailer across the street so he can keep his “classic” car collection in the front yard…
Waiting to see if electric gets more expensive due to this, although they seem to purposefully obfuscate the electric bills. The data centers ought to be subsidizing our power bills.