Jeff Desjardins reports that the United States generates 4,000 million MWh per year of electricity from utility-scale sources. While the majority comes from fossil fuels like natural gas (32.1%) , nuclear power (20%), and coal (29.9%), there are also many other minor sources that feed into the grid, ranging from hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, and others.
The Big Picture View
Today’s series of maps come from Weber State University, and they use information from the EPA’s eGRID databases to show every utility-scale power plant in the country. Use the white slider in the middle below to see how things have changed between 2007 and 2016: The biggest difference between the two maps is the reduced role of coal, which is no longer the most dominant energy source in the country. You can also see many smaller-scale wind and solar dots appear throughout the appropriate regions. There is a similar look at how the energy mix has changed in the United States over the last 70 years:
Up until the 21st century, power almost always came from fossil fuels, nuclear, or hydro sources. More recently, we can see different streams of renewables making a small dent in the mix.
Maps by Source
These maps show individual sources to see regional differences more clearly.
The two most prominent sources are coal (black) and natural gas (orange), and they combine to make up about 60% of total annual net generation. Nuclear is scattered in the western half of the country becasue the power grid is stretched over vast distances and local energy sources contribute electricity, such as geothermal power in Dixie Valley (Nevada), but on the Eastern Seaboard and in the Midwest, it is a major power source. All in all, it makes up about 20% of the annual net generation mix and is the major climate friendly energy source in use today. SMRs may make a major contribution to extend the power grid throughout the US in a few years.
Hydroelectric (dark blue) plays a major energy role in the state of Washington and Oregon, New York, etc. Wind farms (light blue), Solar fields (yellow) are being installed in experimental locations around the U.S. but play only minor role to date. Roof top solar should increase but have stiff competition from local power companies. Biomass (brown) is still in experimental stages, and geothermal (green) have demonstrated potential in geologically favorable areas of the western U.S. Aside from a few massive hydro installations – such as the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State (19 million MWh per year) – most renewable installations are on a smaller scale.
See Alaska and Hawaii for their energy usage (more).
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