- Coal use for electricity generation declined by 20% from 2019.
- Lower gas prices made gas more attractive for power generation.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that U.S. coal production fell in 2020 to its lowest level since 1965 due to low global demand. In its latest report, the agency stated that 2020 U.S. coal production totalled 535 million short tons (MMst), a 24 per cent decrease from the 706 MMst produced in 2019. In addition, U.S. coal-fired generation also fell by 20 per cent from 2019, as exports fell by 26 per cent from 2019.
The EIA attributed the decline to the pandemic, which caused global coal demand to decline. The EIA notes that the reduction in the use of coal in electricity production was as a result of lower natural gas prices that made coal less competitive for power generation. Gas overtook coal as the leading fuel for U.S. electricity generation in 2016, with many more coal plants set to be phased out. According to data from EIA and Thomson Reuters data, generators phased out about 10.4GW of coal in 2020. U.S. electricity companies currently have plans to retire or convert over 5,800MW of coal-fired plants in 2021 to gas after shutting.