Majority of new generation in 2015 will come from wind, natural gas and solar
The face of energy in the United States is changing, and in 2015, electric generating companies will add approximately 20 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale generating capacity to the power grid, according to EIA. At the same time, nearly 16 GW of generating capacity is scheduled to be retired in the same year.
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Credit: EIA |
Ninety-one percent of the new generating capacity will be in the form of wind (9.8 GW), natural gas (6.3 GW) and solar (2.2 GW). Eighty-one percent -- or 12.9 GW -- of the soon-to-be-retired capacity will be in the form of coal-fired generation.
Although the new capacity is in many forms, it is not spread evenly across the country. According to the EIA report, 85 percent -- or 8.4 GW -- of the wind additions are mostly in the plains states. Natural gas additions, while seen across the country, has seen 27 percent -- or 1.7 GW -- focused in Texas, and 26 percent -- or 1.6 GW -- focused in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. New solar is also focused in only a few areas.
"Utility-scale solar additions of systems with at least one megawatt of capacity are dominated by two states -- California (1.2 GW) and North Carolina (0.4 GW) -- which combined for 73 percent of total solar additions," the EIA explained. "Both states have renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policies in place, with North Carolina's policy including a solar-specific target. These figures do not include small-scale installations such as residential rooftop solar photovoltaic systems."
On top of the natural gas, solar and wind additions in 2015, the United States will see the first new nuclear reactor brought online in 20 years. The Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Bar 2 nuclear facility is scheduled to launch in December.
"These values reflect reported additions and retirements, not model projections," EIA said, explaining that December often has more capacity additions than in any other month because of the expiring tax credits, which "often encourages a rush of activity to start or complete projects by the end of the year, depending on how the credit is awarded."
Nearly 13 GW of coal-fired generation is expected to be retired in 2015 -- with 10.2 GW of bituminous coal and 2.8 GW of subbituminous coal planned to go offline.
The retiring plants are mainly located in the Appalachian Region and are going offline mainly because of the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in 2015. Others have been given permission to continue operation until April 2016.
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