The Changing Sources of Electricity in the U.S.

In 2019, about 4,118 million megawatt (MW) of electricity were generated at electric utility facilities in the United States. About 63% of this electricity generation was from fossil fuels—coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases. About 20% was from nuclear energy, and about 18% was from renewable energy sources.

Although total electricity generation across the United States has remained relatively flat since the mid-2000s, power plant installations have continued to increase in the past decade, partly to replace retiring coal-fired plants with lower carbon options and partially to rebalance and update the electric grid.. Nearly 14,000 MW of coal-fired capacity was retired in 2019—the third-most annual coal retirements in EIA’s power plant inventory. 

According to Manussawee Sukunta an economist at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) the electric power sector installed nearly 23,000 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity in 2019. This new capacity was primarily in onshore wind (9,100 MW), natural gas-fired (8,300 MW), and solar photovoltaic (PV) (5,300 MW) technologies. The Southern region of the country accounted for nearly half of the total capacity additions in the United States last year.