Dive Brief:
- Almost three-quarters of U.S. utilities are burning less coal this year than had been anticipated, according to a September survey conducted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and presented this week.
- Platts reports about 30% of utilities are using the amount of coal they anticipated and none are burning more, largely due to low natural gas prices.
- Coal's share of the United States' generation mix has been in rapid decline, with natural gas twice this year edging out the fuel for the top spot. In July, gas' share was 35%, barely edging out coal's 34.9%.
Dive Insight:
Utilities around the country are reporting that coal use is falling and quickly. Platts reports on a new report presented this week during a STB Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, finding 65% of utilities are using less coal than they were a year ago. That, in turn, has boosted stockpiles; most utilities say they have more coal on hand now than they did a year ago.
The decline in coal use, according to committee co-chair and Dynegy vice president Rob Hardman, is because of "wind, solar or natural gas that really challenges the underpinning design of the entire supply chain that was put together years ago."
Northern Indiana Public Service director of fuels and materials management Dennis Rackers told the committee that NIPSCO will see a 25% drop in coal use this year, from 6.8 million short tons to just over 5 million.
The shift from coal to gas, and coal to renewables and other resources, has been in the works for some time but is now accelerating. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administrationhas shown that twice this year – and never before – electricity from natural gas exceeded coal. And this in a time of increasing demand.
In October, EIA reported that excluding distributed resources, the total electricity demand grew year-over-year in the U.S. to 398 billion kWh in July 2015, compared with 384 billion kWh during the same period the year before. But during that same month, natural gas' share of U.S. generation in July 2015 was 35%, ahead of coal's 34.9%.
