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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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."

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.

This statistic represents the distribution of the electricity generation capacity in North America in 2020, with a breakdown by energy source. About 44.3 percent of the total electricity generation capacity was derived from natural gas.

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.

New York Electric Generation By Fuel Type, GWh dataset provides data on total electricity requirements and in-state generation for New York State in giga-watt hours. Sources of electricity include coal, natural gas, petroleum products, hydro, nuclear, waste, landfill gas, wood, wind, solar, and net imports of electricity. How does your organization use this dataset? What other NYSERDA or energy-related datasets would you like to see on Open NY? Let us know by emailing OpenNY@nyserda.ny.gov.

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.

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).

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.

In 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for about 21 percent of the total electricity generated in the United States. Of that share, wind power accounted for the largest proportion of U.S. electricity generation, at roughly 10 percent. Geothermal, on the other hand, accounted for just 0.4 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. that year.

Nuclear energy remains the most capital-intensive energy source in the United States, with estimated costs ranging from 8,765 to 14,400 U.S. dollars per kilowatt in 2024. This high investment requirement reflects the complex infrastructure and safety measures needed for nuclear power plants. Despite the high costs, nuclear energy plays a significant role in the U.S. energy sector, accounting for around 20 percent of the country’s electricity generation in 2023. Cost comparison of U.S. energy sources While nuclear energy tops the list in capital costs, other energy sources present varying levels of investment. Offshore wind power, for instance, requires substantial upfront capital, with estimates ranging from 3,750 to 5,750 U.S. dollars per kilowatt. In contrast, utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems offer more affordable options, with capital costs between 850 and 1,400 U.S. dollars per kilowatt. These differences in capital costs contribute to the overall levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), which factors in lifetime expenses and energy production. Onshore wind energy and utility-scale solar PV boasted the lowest unsubsidized LCOE in the U.S. in 2024. Renewable energy trends in the United States The U.S. energy landscape is evolving, and renewable energy supply has grown significantly owing to federal policies that have made it more affordable. The Biden administration has bolstered clean energy projects, resulting in solar PV accounting for 66 percent of the total electricity capacity additions in 2024. The funds of the Inflation Reduction Act (2022) have also heavily boosted the domestic onshore and offshore wind sector. However, the renewable energy sector is projected to face challenges under President Trump, who has called for revoking IRA investments and slowing the growth in the country’s wind generation capacity.

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 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.

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.

Provides annual renewable energy consumption (in quadrillion btu) for electricity generation in the United States by energy use sector (commercial, industrial and electric power) and by energy source (e.g. biomass, geothermal, etc.) This data was compiled and published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The energy source for all electricity generated in Maryland from 1990 through 2016. Numbers are in megawatt-hours (MWh). Note that Maryland imports some electricity from out-of-state generators. Data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Net Generation by State by Type of Producer by Energy Source (EIA-906, EIA-920, and EIA-923), Version: Final annual data for 2016, Release Date: November 9, 2017.

For some early years, biomass and wood data may be reported as part of Other Renewables.