Transitioning the U.S. Power Stack

Change of this scale is slow

Transitioning the U.S. Power Stack
Photo by israel palacio / Unsplash
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Last week we published the U.S. Power Stack in Pictures

The piece includes charts of U.S. generation by fuel type, plus existing and planned capacity by fuel type

The data utilized includes planned projects through 2031 as tracked by the EIA

The scale of the transition needed to retool U.S. power supply is enormous, which we try to visualize

Change is Slow

When looking at planned generation capacity by fuel type again, it is easy to see the preponderance of low-carbon fuel sources being added to the U.S. power stack - and easy to get optimistic on energy transition.

But looking at operating and planned capacity by fuel type (not included previously) shows a vastly different picture.

U.S. operating and planned low-carbon generation capacity now exceeds 500 GW.

Even after decades of adding low-carbon fuel sources to the U.S. power stack, in addition to changes through 2031, many states will continue to rely on fossil fuels.

We note this data pre-dates any project additions as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, some of which itself relies on pending permitting reform, but one can why there is a sense of urgency from pro-energy transition supporters.

Change of this scale is slow.

Stay tuned for additional Enersection work that will quantify the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on these figures.