The U.S. electric power industry’s use of steam coal for electricity production dropped 29 percent from a high of 1,045 million short tons (MMst) in 2007 to about 739 MMst in 2015, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday.
Consumption dropped in the overwhelming majority of states. The only exceptions to the trend were Alaska and Nebraska, while Idaho, Rhode Island, and Vermont already do not have any power sector coal consumption.
Demand in top electric power coal consumer Texas fell by 16 percent from 2007 to 2015, while lowest consumer California cut demand by 96 percent. The highest drops were concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast, where six states contributed close to 50 percent of the overall national reduction, EIA said.
“In the United States, 97% of all steam coal is used to generate electricity. With little or no growth in electricity sales in most states between 2007 and 2015, coal use for electricity generation is closely related to coal’s share of total generation,” according to the agency. “The price and availability of fuels other than coal have had a major effect on coal consumption since 2007. Increased supply of natural gas and a resulting natural gas price decline spurred increases in natural gas-fired power generation in several states, generally at the expense of coal-fired generation. Electricity generation from wind and solar sources also increased significantly over this period, driven by a combination of federal tax credits, state-level mandates, and technology improvements.”