Solar and wind out-power coal in the US for record five-month stretch

Wind and solar have generated more electricity than coal in the US for a record five-month period, setting a pace of decline for the fossil fuel that is “faster than anyone anticipated.”

The new record for US renewables was first reported by industry publication E&E News, whose review of energy market data found wind and solar out-powered coal through May, marking the fifth month in a row.

A spokesperson from the Energy Information Administration confirmed to CBS News that preliminary data shows April and May have continued the trend set in January, February and March where wind and solar out-produced coal.

According to Scientific American, renewable generation has topped coal-fired power before in the US – on occasion in 2020 and 2022 – but only when hydro was counted in the mix.

This year, wind and solar sources alone have done the job, generating a combined 252 terawatt-hours (TWh) through the first five months of 2023 compared to 249TWh from coal, according to EIA data. Hydro generated an additional 117TWh in May.

The latest monthly figures are preliminary, which means they could be revised in coming months, but the EIA seems confident that coal power – the source of 40% of US electricity just a decade ago – will continue its decline.

At the start of May, the EIA released a statement forecasting that very scenario for the coming US summer.

“The increasing share of renewables in the US generation mix is a major feature of our electricity forecast this summer and through 2024,” said EIA administrator Joe DeCarolis.

“As electricity providers generate more electricity from renewable sources, we see electricity generated from coal decline over the next year and a half. We expect that the United States will generate less electricity from coal this year than in any year this century.”

Like Australia, the decline of coal power in the US has been helped  along by a series coal plant retirements, as the fossil fuel is pushed out of the market by renewable energy and – in America’s case – by gas, which is cheaper and more flexible than coal. CBS reports that six coal plants have been closed across the US so far this year.

On the other side of the ledger, 22.5GW of wind and solar capacity were added to the US grid in the 12 months ending in May, according to an EIA report from last week.

CBS cites a report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that puts the pipeline of projects awaiting connection to the grid at 1.3GW of new generating capacity – the vast majority zero carbon.

In less promising news for the climate, gas has also grown in its contributions to the US power mix. But the picture for coal is of continuing decline.

“From a coal perspective, it has been a disaster,” Andy Blumenfeld, an analyst at McCloskey by OPIS told the Scientific American. “The decline is happening faster than anyone anticipated.”