USA Electric Statistics -2010 USA ELECTRICAL SUMMARY -2010
The key facts concerning USA’s 2010 electrical energy are:
Consumption
Total electrical energy consumption was 4.151 Trillion Kwhs (T Kwhs). 125.7 Million residential customers used 1.446 T Kwhs- 34.8% of USA’s 2010 load. 17.7 Million commercial customers used 1.33 T Kwhs- 32 %. 748K Industrial customers used 0.97 T Kwhs- 23.4%. 0.397 T Kwhs or 9.6% were losses from the system (0.135 T Kwhs) and for unaccounted loads (0.262 T Kwhs). Average residential monthly usage was about 959 Kwhs and at a cost of $110.67/month.
Generation
USA’s 1137.3 Gigawatt power infrastructure produced 4.125 Trillion Kwhs (T Kwhs). USA imports minus exports was 0.026 T Kwhs or 0.6% of what we used. Electrical energy generated from Coal was 1.847 T Kwhs (44.5%); Natural Gas, 0.999 T Kwhs (24.1%); Nuclear, 0.807 T Kwhs (19.4%); Hydro, .255 T Kwhs (6.1%); Renewables, 0.167 T Kwhs (4%); Petroleum, 0.037 T Kwhs (0.9%); and Misc 0.013 T Kwhs (0.3%). USA’s renewable fuels (Hydro reported separately) are Wind, 0.095 T Kwhs (2.3%); Wood, 0.037 T Kwh (0.9%); other Biomass,0.019 T Kwhs (0.45% ); Geothermal, 0.015 T Kwhs and Solar, 0.001 T Kwhs (0.02%).
Trends In 2010 USA’s electrical energy usage was 8% more than in 2000. It was 1% less than the peak in 2007. Coal, Natural Gas, and Nuclear will remain the top three with Natural Gas increasing its contribution. Hydro will hardly maintain. Petroleum will continue to decrease in importance. Wind and Solar will continue to grow in capacity but their combined contribution to USA energy output will be challenged to reach 4% in five years. Capacity factor for Wind in 2010 was 0.27; Solar, 0.13. These may reach 0.3 and 0.25, respectively, in the next few years.
Plans
In the next 5 years the USA plans to add 19 Coal fueled facilities for an increase of 10.023 Gigawatts; 110 Natural Gas, 39.156 Gigawatts; 161 Wind, 15.253 Gigawatts; 176 Solar, 8.295 Gigawatts; one Nuclear, 1.15 Gigawatts; 21 Wood, 0.846 Gigawatts; 17 Geothermal, 0.82 Gigawatts; 22 Hydro, 0.697 Gigawatts; 21 Petroleum, 0.618 Gigawatts; and 60 other Biomass, 0.543 Gigawatts. This will increase the USA generating infrastructure by 78 Gigawatts or 7%. Wind generating capability would increase by 38.6%; Solar, 922%. Expected 2015 energy output from Wind could be 3.2% of USA electrical energy usage. Solar could be 0.5%.