With help from Texas, U.S. sets new record for wind power generation, surpassing coal-powered generation in the spring
Texas wind-energy production led the United States to a record in April as wind surpassed coal-powered generation for two consecutive months for the first time. Wind topped coal across the U.S. in both March and April, according to the latest data from the federal Energy Information Administration .
It had surpassed coal for the first time in April 2023. Wind power usually peaks in the spring. But Texas has produced more wind- than coal-generated power for the past four years. And the state led the nation in wind-powered electricity in 2023, generating 28% of the country’s total wind power. RELATED: CPS to ERCOT: Want to keep our gas-fired generating plants running? It will cost you. The shifts have come as coal generation continues to decline both in Texas and nationwide. This April, U.S. coal-fired generation fell to 37.2 terawatt hours while wind generation grew to a record 47.7 terawatt hours. A terawatt is equal to 1 million megawatts. It takes 1 megawatt to power 250 Texas households on a hot summer day. Texas produced 12.9 terawatt hours of wind power in April, making it the nation's largest single-state producer of wind energy. The previous high was set in May 2022, when Texas wind power surpassed 13 terawatt hours. RELATED: Where are Texas’ wind turbines concentrated? The number of wind farms has exploded in the U.S. and Texas in the past 25 years. In March 2004, wind generation accounted for just 1.3 terwatt hours for the entire U.S. The country’s total wind capacity went from 2.4 gigawatts in 2000 to 150.1 gigawatts as of this April. The shift has come as utilities across the country, and locally, are moving away from coal in favor of lower-emission sources such as solar and wind. The country’s total coal-powered capacity fell to 177.1 gigawatts this April from 315.1 gigawatts in 2000. RELATED: As power demand soared, Texas solar set a record as grid passed its latest wintertime test CPS Energy, for example, shuttered its coal-fired J.T. Deely Power Plant at the end of 2018. It has plans to shutter its newer J.K. Spruce coal plant by 2028. In 2013, coal-fired plants in Texas supplied 34% of the state’s total generation. Now, they supply just 13%.
ERCOT CPS Energy J.T. J.K. Texas U.S. Deely Power Plant
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