EIA Report: coal slipping a little bit, Midwest a hot spot
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For the EIA 2006 annual report:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html selected quotes:
Coal’s share of total net generation continued its slow decline over the past decade, from its peak of 52.8 percent in 1997 to 49.0 percent in 2006.
Renewable energy, other than hydroelectric, grew 10.6 percent and accounted for 2.4 percent of net generation in 2006. The greatest growth in the renewable sector was in wind generation, which contributed 95 percent of the growth in renewable energy. Wind generators produced 26.6 million MWh, 49.3 percent higher than in 2005. In 2006, electricity providers reported total peak-load reductions of 27,240 MW resulting from demand-side management (DSM) programs, a 6.0 percent increase from the amount reported in 2005. Reported DSM costs increased to $2.1 billion, a 6.7 percent increase from costs reported in 2005.
During 2006, 542 MW of new coal-fired generators started commercial operation, while 735 MW of older, inefficient coal-fired capacity were retired from service. The most notable addition to capacity was the 400-MW unit 3 at the Tucson Electric Power Company’s Springerville facility, while the shutdown of 180 MW of capacity at NRG’s C.R. Huntley facility was most notable on the retirement side.
Although coal-fired capacity has not changed significantly since 1995, generation by coal-fired plants was 16.5 percent higher in 2006 than in 1995. The utilization of coal-fired generators, a measure of actual generation compared to the theoretical maximum output, has increased from 63 percent in 1995 to 73 percent in 2006. Planned coal-fired capacity on January 1, 2007, totaled 29,698 MW, up slightly from the 27,884 MW reported on January 1, 2006. Most of this proposed capacity is scheduled to start commercial operation between 2009 and 2011. Coal plants planned for Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin represent over one-half of all proposed coal-fired capacity additions.
Coal is the only fossil fuel that has continued to increase in cost at electric plants each year since 2000.
In 2006, the average retail price for all customers rose to 8.9 cents per kWh, a sharp increase of three-fourths of a cent from the 2005 price level. The 9.3 percent increase was the largest since 1981