“HOW DOES YOUR STATE MAKE ELECTRICITY,” asks Nadja Popovich in The New York Times, August 2, 2024. What’s more, she provides the answers in a most illustrative way. Here are tidbits gleaned from the article.
2001 to 2023. Popovich notes how 2016 was a pivotal year in electrical energy production, with natural gas surpassing coal as the country’s top power source.
Also, she observes, “renewables like wind and solar have grown quickly to became major players in the U.S. power system.”
“Use Whatcha Got.” Historically, states exploited their unique natural resources. To some extent, this still prevails, whether the choice is coal (the dirtiest) or hydroelectric (clean but not without environmental tradeoffs). Several states are characteristic of this.
Indeed, some states move backwards: Popovich notes, “In 2015, West Virginia became the first state to repeal its renewable energy standard after years of lobbying by conservative groups. The law required utilities to get 25 percent of their electricity from alternative and renewable energy sources by 2025. Opponents of the standard said it was hurting coal jobs and raising electricity rates, while supporters said it would help to diversify the state’s electric sector at a time when the national coal market was in decline.”
Indeed, the repeal turned out to be something of a lose/lose: “The total amount of power generated by West Virginia has declined over the past two decades as coal power has been squeezed by competition from cheaper regional sources and older coal-fired power plants have retired.”
Coal and Wind. Two states, North Dakota and Wyoming, have clung to their vast coal reserves while exploiting wind power as well. Popovich observes, “North Dakota has both substantial coal reserves and abundant wind. The state produces significantly more electricity than is consumed within its borders and sends about two-thirds to neighboring states and Canada through high-voltage transmission lines. (Exports are not included on the chart above.)”
Popovich continues, “The vast majority of electricity generated in Wyoming still comes from coal, but wind power has made inroads over the past decade. Last year, wind supplied more than a fifth of the electricity produced in the state. Because of its small population, Wyoming produces much more power than it consumes and sends about 60 percent out of state. Several major transmission line projects are currently in development to move more of Wyoming’s abundant wind power to other Western states. (Exports are not pictured in the chart above.)”
A Patchwork of Resources, Including Imports—Maine. Popovich notes, “Most of the electricity generated in Maine last year came from renewable sources. Together, hydroelectric dams, wind turbines, solar arrays and biomass plants, which burn wood and other organic materials, produced about 69 percent of the state’s power.”
“However,” she observes, “the total amount of power generated in Maine, particularly from natural gas and petroleum, has declined significantly over the last two decades. The state now imports between 10 and 30 percent of its electricity each year from other nearby states and Canada. (Imports are not shown on the chart above.)
My Home State—California. “Natural gas,” Popovich recounts, “has been California’s top electricity fuel since 2001, but more than half of the power produced in the state last year came from renewable energy and other carbon-free sources, including solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and nuclear.”
Also, it can be noted, among the fifty states coal is all but missing from the 2001-2023 tally for California, Idaho (predominately hydro), Rhode Island (natural gas) and Vermont (hydro + a non-coal patchwork).
It’s good fun, and illuminating, to scan through Nadja Popovich’s fine presentation. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024