In the United States, electricity derived from coal has decreased over the past two decades, with the annual output declining by almost 63 percent between 2010 and 2023. In contrast, there has been a rise in natural gas and renewable sources within the energy mix. How is electricity generated in the U.S.? Most electricity in the U.S. is generated from steam turbines, which can be powered by fossil and nuclear fuels, biomass, geothermal, and solar thermal energy. Other systems such as gas turbines, hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaics are also major generation technologies. Electric utilities in the U.S. generated more than 2,176 terawatt hours in 2023, accounting for just over half of the power output in the country that year. Growing renewable capacity Renewable sources have become more prominent in the U.S. in recent years, particularly wind, hydro, and solar energy. The former has overtaken conventional hydropower, becoming the leading renewable energy source in the U.S. since 2019. Wind and solar power have also accounted for the largest share of electricity capacity additions in the country.

Throughout the past decade, the United States has been notably decreasing its use of coal, and increasing the use of natural gas and renewable energy sources for electricity generation. In 2023, natural gas was by far the largest source of electricity in the North American country, with a generation share of 43 percent. Renewable energy's share amounted to 23 percent that year.

United States US: Electricity Production From Oil Sources: % of Total data was reported at 0.904 % in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.923 % for 2014. United States US: Electricity Production From Oil Sources: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 4.834 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 17.167 % in 1977 and a record low of 0.774 % in 2012. United States US: Electricity Production From Oil Sources: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Energy Production and Consumption. Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Oil refers to crude oil and petroleum products.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Weighted average; Electricity production shares may not sum to 100 percent because other sources of generated electricity (such as geothermal, solar, and wind) are not shown. Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

The United States generated 4,178 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023, one of the largest figures recorded in the indicated period. In comparison to the previous year, power generation decreased by 50 terawatt-hours. U.S. electricity market and the role of renewables Unlike the use of fossil fuels, U.S. renewable electricity generation has increased in recent years, amounting to more than 890 terawatt-hours in 2023. Wind power has become the main renewable source of electricity generation in the North American country, having surpassed conventional hydroelectric power in 2019. Who are the main consumers of electricity? The residential sector was ranked as the largest consumer of electricity in the United States in 2022. Electricity retail sales to residential users have grown by approximately 300 terawatt-hours since the beginning of the century.

Key information about United States Electricity Production

• Electricity Production in United States reached 361,284 GWh in Dec 2024, compared with 324,033 GWh in the previous month.
• Electricity Production data of US is updated monthly averaging at 294,691 GWh from Jan 1973 to Dec 2024.
• The data reached an all-time high of 430,288 GWh in Jul 2024 and a record low of 139,589 GWh in Apr 1973.

United States US: Electricity Production From Coal Sources: % of Total data was reported at 34.233 % in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 39.651 % for 2014. United States US: Electricity Production From Coal Sources: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 51.846 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 57.679 % in 1988 and a record low of 34.233 % in 2015. United States US: Electricity Production From Coal Sources: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Energy Production and Consumption. Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Coal refers to all coal and brown coal, both primary (including hard coal and lignite-brown coal) and derived fuels (including patent fuel, coke oven coke, gas coke, coke oven gas, and blast furnace gas). Peat is also included in this category.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Weighted average; Electricity production shares may not sum to 100 percent because other sources of generated electricity (such as geothermal, solar, and wind) are not shown. Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

State-level data on all energy sources. Data on production, consumption, reserves, stocks, prices, imports, and exports. Data are collated from state-specific data reported elsewhere on the EIA website and are the most recent values available. Data on U.S. territories also available.

Petroleum is the primary source of energy in the United States, with a consumption of 35.43 quadrillion British thermal units in 2023. Closely following, the U.S. had 33.61 quadrillion British thermal units of energy derived from natural gas. Energy consumption by sector in the United States Petroleum is predominantly utilized as a fuel in the transportation sector, which is also the second-largest consumer of energy in the U.S. with almost 30 percent of the country’s total energy consumption in 2023. This figure is topped only by the energy-guzzling industrial sector, a major consumer of fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas. Renewable energy in the United States Despite the prevalence of fossil fuels in the U.S. energy mix, the use of renewable energy consumption has grown immensely in the last decades to approximately 11 exajoules in 2023. Most of the renewable energy produced in the U.S. is derived from biomass, hydro and wind sources. In 2023, renewable electricity accounted for approximately 22.5 percent of the nation’s total electricity generation.

United States Electricity Generation data was reported at 12.243 kWh/Day bn in Feb 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 12.935 kWh/Day bn for Jan 2025. United States Electricity Generation data is updated monthly, averaging 10.485 kWh/Day bn from Jan 1991 (Median) to Feb 2025, with 410 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.886 kWh/Day bn in Jul 2024 and a record low of 7.593 kWh/Day bn in Apr 1991. United States Electricity Generation data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Energy Information Administration. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.RB004: Electricity Supply and Consumption.

United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric: % of Total data was reported at 7.176 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 6.900 % for 2014. United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 0.471 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.176 % in 2015 and a record low of 0.015 % in 1960. United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Energy Production and Consumption. Electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric, includes geothermal, solar, tides, wind, biomass, and biofuels.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Weighted Average; Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

This deposit combines data from https://doi.org/10.3886/E146782V1 and https://doi.org/10.3886/E146801V1 to produce files containing the hourly generation, costs, and capacities of virtually all power plants in the lower 48 United States between 1999-2012 for their use in "Data and Code for: Imperfect Markets versus Imperfect Regulation in U.S. Electricity Generation" (https://doi.org/10.3886/E115467V1).

Power Plants in the U.S.This feature layer, utilizing data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), depicts all operable electric generating plants by energy source in the U.S. This includes plants that are operating, on standby, or short- or long-term out of service. The data covers all plants with a combined nameplate capacity of 1 MW (Megawatt) or more.Per EIA, "The United States uses many different energy sources and technologies to generate electricity. The sources and technologies have changed over time, and some are used more than others. The three major categories of energy for electricity generation are fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), nuclear energy, and renewable energy sources. Most electricity is generated with steam turbines using fossil fuels, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, and solar thermal energy. Other major electricity generation technologies include gas turbines, hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaics."Madison Gas & Electric Company, Sycamore Power PlantData currency: This cached Esri service is checked monthly for updates from its federal source (Power Plants)Data modification: NoneFor more information, please visit:Electricity ExplainedEIA-860, Annual Electric Generator ReportEIA-860M, Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator ReportEIA-923, Power Plant Operations ReportSupport documentation: MetadataFor feedback: ArcGIScomNationalMaps@esri.comEnergy Information AdministrationPer EIA, "The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment."

These datasets, namely .csv, are snapshots of the regional datasets published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2023. EIA publishes hourly operational data across the United States electricity grid, including demand, net generation of electricity from various sources (such as coal, natural gas, solar), CO2 emissions, import/export to other regions, and many more. The complete details of the EIA-930 data is available here: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/about. Furthermore, we obtained the solar capacities of each year and each region from EIA (https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/state/) and had stored the information in the file solar_capacity_factor.csv.

United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric data was reported at 317,421,000,000.000 kWh in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 298,023,000,000.000 kWh for 2014. United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric data is updated yearly, averaging 12,867,000,000.000 kWh from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 317,421,000,000.000 kWh in 2015 and a record low of 122,000,000.000 kWh in 1960. United States US: Electricity Production From Renewable Sources: Excluding Hydroelectric data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Energy Production and Consumption. Electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric, includes geothermal, solar, tides, wind, biomass, and biofuels.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Sum; Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

United States Electricity Net Generation: EP: Fossil Fuels (FF) data was reported at 166,741.619 kWh mn in Apr 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 177,760.467 kWh mn for Mar 2018. United States Electricity Net Generation: EP: Fossil Fuels (FF) data is updated monthly, averaging 178,948.662 kWh mn from Jan 1973 (Median) to Apr 2018, with 544 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 309,066.965 kWh mn in Aug 2007 and a record low of 106,034.498 kWh mn in Apr 1975. United States Electricity Net Generation: EP: Fossil Fuels (FF) data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Energy Information Administration. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.RB067: Electricity Overview.

Monthly average hourly CO2, NOx, and SO2 emission factors for each U.S. eGRID subregion. This project utilized GridViewTM, an electric grid dispatch software package, to estimate hourly emission factors for all of the eGRID subregions in the continental United States. These factors took into account electricity imports and exports across the eGRID subregion boundary, and included estimated transmission and distribution (T) losses. Emission types accounted for included carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2).Data reported as part of this project include hourly average, minimum, and maximum emission factors by month; that is, the average, minimum, and maximum emission factor for the same hour of each day in a month. Please note that the data are reported in lbs/MWh, where the MWh value reported is site electricity use (the actual electricity used at the building) and the pounds of emissions reported are the emissions created at the generator to meet the building load, including transmission and distribution losses. The demand profiles used to generate the data pertain to the following years: eastern interconnect - 2005; Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) - 2008; Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) - 2008.

United States US: Electricity Production From Natural Gas Sources: % of Total data was reported at 31.942 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 26.888 % for 2014. United States US: Electricity Production From Natural Gas Sources: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 17.344 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 31.942 % in 2015 and a record low of 9.464 % in 1988. United States US: Electricity Production From Natural Gas Sources: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Energy Production and Consumption. Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Gas refers to natural gas but excludes natural gas liquids.; ; IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/; Weighted average; Electricity production shares may not sum to 100 percent because other sources of generated electricity (such as geothermal, solar, and wind) are not shown. Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

This data deposit constructs data on monthly generation costs and capacities in the United States from 1999-2012 in preparation for their use in "Imperfect Markets versus Imperfect Regulation in U.S. Electricity Generation" (openicpsr-115467).It builds panel data files from the following EIA forms:"Form EIA-860: Annual Electric Generator Report""Form EIA-861: Annual Electric Power Industry Report""Form EIA-767: Annual Steam-Electric Plant Operation and Design Report""Form EIA-923: Power Plant Operations Report""Form EIA-759/906/920/923: Power Plant Report""Form EIA-423: Monthly Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants Report"and the EPA's Continuous Emissions Monitor System.It constructs a crosswalk that connects the EPA's boilers to the EIA's generator identifiers.

Graph and download economic data for Sources of Revenue: Sales of Energy and Resources - Electricity Generation and Distribution for Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, All Establishments, Employer Firms (REVSEGEF2211ALLEST) from 2013 to 2022 about power transmission, distributive, employer firms, accounting, revenue, electricity, energy, establishments, sales, services, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Industrial Production: Utilities: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution (NAICS = 2211) (IPG2211S) from Jan 1972 to Feb 2025 about power transmission, distributive, electricity, IP, production, industry, indexes, and USA.