New report demonstrates the importance of coal in U.S electricity system

This report offers new insights on the performance of different electricity resources – coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, oil, wind, and solar – during the January 13-21 winter storm. Collectively, coal and natural gas provided most of the additional (incremental) electricity generation that was needed when the storm peaked on January 17. Each provided approximately 40% of the additional electricity. Including a small contribution from oil, fossil fuels generated 82% of the additional electricity that was needed when the storm peaked. Electricity demand across the five regions increased by more than 150,000 megawatts during the peak hour of the storm. […]