Today, May 23rd, the EIA released their report “Coal Regains Some Electric Generation Market Share from Natural Gas,” noting that since coal and gas generation were equal in April 2012, coal’s share of electric power generated has climbed back to 40% while natural gas was fueling 25% through March 2013.
Meanwhile, subscribers to Genscape’s Generation Fuel Monitor service were privy to this information nearly 2-months prior – as it happened in real time. Utilizing a unique data set gained through our proprietary, in-the-field energy monitors Genscape has developed models to accurately estimate MWh consumption by fuel type on a daily basis.
Back in March, Genscape’s Generation Fuel Monitor first reported coal-fired generation accounted for 40.76% of the national supply stack while natural gas accounted for 26.61%; a 7.3% increase y/y for coal and a -3.6% decrease for gas. Read our April 4 press release, Coal Claws Back Market Share in March, for a summary of fuel generation for the month of March.
Highlighting Genscape’s ability to estimate this data in real-time – coal’s share of power generation dropped to 36.26% in April 2013 while gas moved down to 25.87%. Much of this shift was driven by weaker power demand an increased output from renewable generation such as hydro in the Northwest and wind in MISO and ERCOT.
If you are interested in a free trial of the Generation Fuel Monitor Report, visit: info.genscape.com/generation-fuel-monitor.
The first graph represents Genscape's Generation Fuel Monitor data, collected and available to clients in real-time. Click the graph for a larger version.
Below is the EIA's power generation graph, released today.
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