Large battery systems are often paired with renewable energy power plants

Pairing renewable energy generators with energy storage, particularly batteries, is increasingly common as the cost of energy storage continues to decrease. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest inventory of electric generators shows that the number of solar and wind generation sites co-located with batteries has grown from 19 paired sites in 2016 to 53 paired sites in 2019. This trend is expected to continue: according to planned installations reported to EIA, another 56 facilities pairing renewable energy and battery storage will come online by the end of 2023. More »

EIA expects lower natural gas production in 2020

In its May 2020 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that U.S. marketed natural gas production will decrease by 5% in 2020 because of a weakening economic outlook from the impact of efforts to reduce the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). EIA expects U.S. marketed natural gas production to average 94.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2020, down from 99.2 Bcf/d in 2019. More »

EIA forecasts U.S. crude oil production to fall in 2020 and 2021

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects U.S. crude oil production to fall in 2020 and 2021 as efforts to mitigate the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue to result in a steep drop in demand for petroleum products and crude oil prices. In its May Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that U.S. crude oil production will average 11.7 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2020 and 10.9 million b/d in 2021. These levels would be 0.5 million b/d and 1.3 million b/d, respectively, lower than the 2019 average of 12.2 million b/d. More »

EIA expects energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to fall 11% this year

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will decline by 11% in 2020. If realized, this decline would represent the largest decline in not only percentage but also absolute terms in EIA's energy-related CO2 series that dates back to 1949. In EIA's latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions are forecast to fall more than the 5% decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. More »

Coal transportation rates in the United States decreased for the fifth consecutive year

U.S. delivered coal costs, which reflect commodity and transportation costs, have declined steadily since 2010 (in constant 2017 dollars per ton). In 2019, the average transportation cost of coal was $15.03 per ton, down from $16.07 per ton in 2018. Transportation costs accounted for about 40% of the total delivered cost of coal in 2019, down 1% compared with the previous year. In the past 10 years, coal commodity costs have fallen faster than transportation costs. As a result, transportation's share of the total delivered cost of coal has increased since 2008, when transportation accounted for about one-third of the total cost. More »

U.S. coal-fired electricity generation in 2019 falls to 42-year low

Output from the U.S. coal-fired generating fleet dropped to 966,000 gigawatthours (GWh) in 2019, the lowest level since 1976. The decline in last year's coal generation levels was the largest percentage decline in history (16%) and second-largest in absolute terms (240,000 GWh). More »