Early Release of 2024 Power Plant Operations Report Data
(Mon, 16 Jun 2025) This web page contains spreadsheets with early release 2024 data on electricity generation, fuel consumption, fossil fuel stocks, fuel receipts, and environmental operations data from the 2024 Form EIA-923, Power Plant Operations Report.
Solar and wind power curtailments are increasing in California
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasingly curtailing solar- and wind-powered electricity generation as it balances supply and demand amidst rapid renewables capacity growth.
The United States operates the world’s largest nuclear power plant fleet
In 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), the largest commercial nuclear power generation fleet in the world. The next three countries with the largest programs were France with 57 units (63.0 GW), China with 57 units (55.3 GW), and Russia with 36 units (28.6 GW). Nuclear power continues to account for 19% of U.S. power sector electricity generation.
The United States operates the world’s largest nuclear power plant fleet
In 2024, U.S. utilities operated 94 nuclear reactors with a total net generating capacity of nearly 97 gigawatts (GW), the largest commercial nuclear power generation fleet in the world. The next three countries with the largest programs were France with 57 units (63.0 GW), China with 57 units (55.3 GW), and Russia with 36 units (28.6 GW). Nuclear power continues to account for 19% of U.S. power sector electricity generation.
Pipeline companies deliver most of the U.S. electric power sector’s natural gas
According to our Natural Gas Annual Respondent Query System, 1,653 natural gas delivery companies delivered natural gas to end-use customers in 2023 in the United States. A delivery company is defined as any entity that delivers natural gas directly to end users. Natural gas deliveries by pipeline companies to the electric power sector made up the largest share of deliveries to end-use consumers, accounting for 33% of all natural gas delivered to end-use consumers in 2023.
The cost of transporting coal to the U.S. electric power sector fell slightly in 2023
We released new data on the U.S. electric power sector’s coal transportation costs. The release incorporates final data for 2023 from Form EIA-923, which we collect from electric power plant owners and operators. The data release based on our Form EIA-923 includes tables with costs, in nominal and real (2023) dollars, across regions, states, and modes of transportation. These transportation rates are calculated as a weighted average of the difference between the commodity cost and total delivered cost of coal shipments to plants in the electric power sector. In addition, the rates are based on the primary transport mode that
Natural gas-fired power plants have different owner types
Natural gas-fired generating plants in the United States can be categorized by different ownership type, which can influence where individual plants are located, as well as how they operate and even the way fuel is purchased. Those different owners, through the investments they have made, have been instrumental in making natural gas the single-largest source used to generate electricity in the United States, with a 43% share of both capacity and energy output. EIA collects data for the different ownership types of natural gas-fired power plants.
Rarely used oil, coal helped power New England during recent cold snap
Below average temperatures in the eastern United States during the week of January 19, 2025, resulted in high demand for electricity. On January 21 at 6:00 p.m. eastern time, ISO-New England (ISO-NE), the organization operating an integrated grid in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, recorded peak hourly demand of 19,600 megawatts (MW). Although demand was elevated, it was lower than the 20,308 MW that ISO-NE forecast peak demand would be in its 2024/2025 winter assessment published on November 7, 2024. Temperatures were more moderate in New England than in the Midwest, which tempered electricity demand somewhat
Forecast wholesale power prices and retail electricity prices rise modestly in 2025
In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect that U.S. wholesale power prices will average slightly higher in 2025 in most U.S. regions than last year, except in Texas and in the Northwest. We forecast that the 11 wholesale prices we track in STEO will average $40 per megawatthour (MWh) in 2025 (weighted by demand), up 7% from 2024. We expect the 2025 average U.S. residential electricity price will be 2% higher than the 2024 average, though after accounting for inflation, our forecast for U.S. residential prices remains relatively unchanged from 2024.
FEMA Obligates $1.02 Billion for Critical Repairs and Replacement of Territory’s 911 Communication Towers and Power Plants
FEMA Obligates $1.02 Billion for Critical Repairs and Replacement of Territory’s 911 Communication Towers and Power Plants ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – FEMA, along with the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands (GVI) and the Virgin Islands Office of Disaster Recovery (ODR), announce several recent key obligations of additional funding to assist the Territory in its recovery from hurricanes Irma and Maria. $161.5 million has been obligated for the repair and replacement of communication towers on the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John, $205.9 million to support the replacement of generation units at the Randolph Harley