U.S. Power Generation Monthly

Highlights:

• EnerWrap utilizes daily power generation from the EIA to calculate monthly utility-scale generation by fuel source for an early look at changes to fuel sourcing for the U.S. power grid

• Total power generation in July 2024 was 381 TWh, up 12.7% from last month and higher by 9.4% from July 2023

• Natural gas generation was 192 TWh, an all-time high monthly record surpassing the prior record of 186 TWh a year ago during the same month

• Natural gas was 46.2% of the power stack, the highest in recent years 

• Solar generation slipped slightly versus last month coming in at 22.1 TWh versus 22.5 TWh in June 2024, with a 29.0% increase versus last year

• Wind power continues to be choppy at 28.2 TWh, down a whopping 27.5% compared to the prior month - it is likely not too far in the distance whereby solar generation surpasses wind given the respective capacity additions

• Wind share was a meager 6.8% of the total power stack, with the data continuing to show reduced rates in hotter weather - the prior five months of wind were 10-15% stack share

• Solar plus wind were 12.1% of the stack, the lowest since August 2023

• Coal was 17.8% of total generation - for comparison it was 27.3% in July 2018

July 2024 witness an all-time high for U.S. natural gas power generation

Together with the highest monthly reading for gas as a percentage of the total stack since at least 2018

Generation by fuel source

Monthly utility-scale solar generation continues to move up and to the right

Disappointing monthly wind generation can be seen in the daily data

Solar and wind as a percentage of the total U.S. power stack was 12.1%, down 4.0% versus June