The Washington Post has put together an extraordinary data visualization that shows how the United States has generated its electricity so far this year. Using data from the Energy Information Administration, they have mapped every power source and categorized it by type and size.
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I will recap the most interesting parts of their project here, but we highly recommend that you visit their online interactive version of this visualization to get the most out of their work.
Plant Capacity by Megawatt
This above visualization is a little overwhelming, as it includes every power source in America. However, later on we will show various visualizations by power type, which make it easier to make sense of.
Power Generated by Source: Coal
Data visualized like this shows there is still a large reliance on specific energy types such as coal, hydro, and nuclear. For example, 28 states still rely on coal in 2015 to produce at least 25% of their electricity.
Meanwhile, the following chart on solar shows how far photovoltaics still have to go to make a significant impact in the overall energy mix.
Power Generated by Source: Solar
While community solar farms are starting to take off in the United States, solar technology as a whole still does not provide substantial amounts of electricity. It is clear that California is the leader in solar capacity, but it actually only accounts for 8% of total electricity generation in the state.
Coal Power Map
The United States has 511 coal-fired power plants that generate 34% of the nation’s electricity. Coal produces the majority of energy in 14 sates.
Natural Gas Power Map
The United States has 1,740 natural gas power plants that generate 30% of the nation’s electricity. Natural gas is the most important source of power in 15 states.
Nuclear Power Map
The United States has 99 nuclear reactors that generate 20% of the nation’s electricity. 20 states get no power from nuclear at all.
Hydro Power Map
The United States has 1,436 hydroelectric dams that generate 7% of the nation’s electricity. The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State has 6,809 MW of installed capacity, making it the largest contributor in nameplate capacity in the country. (However, as Forbes notes, actual electricity generated depends on capacity factor.)
Wind Power Map
The United States has 843 wind power plants that generate 5% of the nation’s electricity. The best source for wind is in the Great Plains, where it blows very reliably. Around 2010, China leapfrogged the USA with parabolic wind power growth.
Solar Power Map
The United States has 722 solar power plants that generate 1% of the nation’s electricity. 39 states have no solar plants.
Oil Power Map
The United States has 1,098 oil-fired power plants that generate 1% of the nation’s electricity. America is shaking off its addiction to oil and no longer relies on it for generating electricity because of price swings. Hawaii is the only state to get the majority of its energy from oil.
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In Virginia not only are there no renewable incentives but the dominant utility, Dominion, actually imposes obstacles to residential renewables. They suck and own most o the pols.
Some thoughts. Coal, despite its environmental problems, is a remarkably good fuel to generate electricity with. Fuel costs are more stable than gas and supply is more reliable. A transportation glitch does not cripple power generation unlike gas pipelines as coal fired plants have large stockpiles of coal on site. Gas powered generating plants are immediately vulnerable to a pipeline problem be it from damage or capacity. Extended cold snaps can and have caused problems in the Northeast because gas utilities have to give priority to residential customers over industrial and electric utility producers and cold weather causes a surge in residential gas heating demand. While we have abundant suppiies of natural gas today events like Hurricane Katrina or the explosion on a major pipeline feeding Southern California at the beginning of this century can cause very real shortages and price hikes. In fact that pipeline explosion lay behind the price rigging scandal and brownouts that drove Governor Grey Davis from office. With gas prices now below the cost of production for many producers we may see a number of gas suppliers going bankrupt with tighter supplies and higher prices in the future. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrecked a lot of the Gulf of Mexico gas production and that winter gas prices were as much as 5 times what they are today ( more if you adjust for inflation)!
Our nuclear power plants are growing old. A number have had their original design life of 40 years extended for another 20 years but we aren’t replacing them. A flaw found in one can cause a problem in others with a similar design as happened when cracks in a reactor lid were discovered in one reactor during a refueling operation required other reactors to shut down and have their lids inspected. San Onfre Nuclear power plant in California was closed after cracks were found in NEW steam pipes and Crystal River NPP in Florida was shut after a botched attempt to replace steam pipes damaged the containment vessel. NPP don’t get second chances so if they are damaged public safety considerations almost guarantee they will never reopen.
We’ve maxed out or hydro electric capacity and environmental concerns are reducing or even eliminating some of our existing hydro electric capacity. It doesn’t look like we will much alternative going forward except to rely on unreliable solar and wind power for an increasing amount of our electrical generating capacity unless we develop a form of price support for natural gas producers.
Fun article, for me at least.
” ……. the explosion on a major pipeline feeding Southern California at the beginning of this century can cause very real shortages and price hikes. In fact that pipeline explosion lay behind the price rigging scandal and brownouts that drove Governor Grey Davis from office.”
—-unit472
Gonna have to throw the bullshit flag. California created those brownouts and blackouts all by itself by not building ANY power plants in the entire 1990s while its population increased by 6 million people. As in zero, none, nada, zippo. In the meantime, Texas’ population increased by 3 million, and the state built 27 n
Fucking jumping cursor.
……. and the state built 27 new power plants to meet the increasing demand. California is STILL behind the power curve (pun intended).
Texas (pop. 26 million) today generates nearly 3 times the power that California (pop. 38 million) does. 3 times. Even Florida (pop. 19 million) and Pennsylvania (pop. 13 million) generate WAY MORE POWER than California. As in 1 1/2 times more power generated.
No state in the country has its head deeper in the sand than California, and it continues to dig.
While admittedly the world would be a far better place if The Big On removed both the ignorant, fluffy thinking and tree-hugging do-gooders of California..along with Hollywood as an ancillary benefit, it does have some nice scenery along the coast going for it.
@ John
California is one of the most blessed geographic locations on Earth, not just for the stunning coastal and inland scenery. The climate in general and natural resources are off the charts. The farming industry is the largest in the country.
No other state has as much going for it, economically speaking, as does California. Yet the liberals who control the state from top to bottom have turned the state into a tax-and-spend nightmare, while ignoring the basic needs – water, power, etc – of their poorer and middle classes. All in pursuit of their non-achievable Utopian goals.
California really is a lab experiment on what not to do in running a state.
I call bullshit on the “power generated by source” chart for giving undue credit to wind. For my state of MN they’re showing rough parity between nuclear and wind. The Twin Cities metro area has 2/3 of the state’s population and is served by two nuclear plants. I don’t believe that the power generated by those nuclear plants is matched by power generated by wind in MN. The optimal power generating capacity of windmills in MN might match the capacity of the nukes in MN, but I highly doubt that actual power produced is similar, since wind is not consistent or constant.
The charts are good for showing how insignificant photovoltaic is, but the Washington Post is still trying to push the leftist agenda.
Well maybe I was wrong. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Minnesota About 15% of electrical power in MN is from wind. Of course, most heating here and elsewhere has little to do with “power plants”. Most energy consumption is for heating, and that comes from natural gas. In the Northeast much of their heating is with heating oil.
SSS says:
@ John
California is one of the most blessed geographic locations on Earth, not just for the stunning coastal and inland scenery. The climate in general and natural resources are off the charts. The farming industry is the largest in the country.
No other state has as much going for it, economically speaking, as does California. Yet the liberals who control the state from top to bottom have turned the state into a tax-and-spend nightmare, while ignoring the basic needs – water, power, etc – of their poorer and middle classes. All in pursuit of their non-achievable Utopian goals.
California really is a lab experiment on what not to do in running a state.
______________________________
California was founded on free money, i.e. the gold rush. Prior to that the pioneers went to Oregon where there was plenty of arable land and Southern California only had huge cattle ranches that only exported hides. The California valleys were desert and unto desert they shall return.
Dook Power er “Energy” in my home state of NC appears to have substantial investments in NG, coal, solar, oil & hydro more than any other state. Pretty diversified …why?
NC had a law on the books, courtesy of Lefties when they had control 10 yrs ago, that is now repealed, to generate 1/8th per renewables. Hell, utilities were burning WOOD to try to achieve this.
My lectric bill in CLT and other places reflects this. Yes, thete is a “Remewable Energy” surfax line…
I hate theses damn wind turbines. They put up forests of these damn things. They stand out like a sore thumb from many dozens of miles away. It destroys the beauty of vast open stretches of land/nature. They beat the shit out of birds of prey. The dead birds attract the kind of prey that birds of prey are after and that has a handy multiplier effect. How exactly is that legal? Just possessing feathers or other parts of raptors is a federal crime as is harming them or even interfering with them, yet the utilities kill them right and left with impunity.
They have to be replaced every 10-25 years. It takes loads of resources and non-renewable energy to build, transport and install them. It takes still more energy to recycle them at the end of their life. Efficient my ass!
Every single time I drive past one of these wind farms it’s far easier to count the spinning turbines than it is to count the idle turbines even on windy days. WTF! I figure the ones spinning are actually paid for by the utility and those not spinning are the tax payer subsidized models.
People will be lucky if they get power or can afford to pay for power during the coming collapse.
For an example of what to expect,Think about what it was like when you went camping and stayed in a tent. Maybe you had a lantern that was powered up by solar.(for the more modern) And you cooked over wood or charcoal.
Camping gear is what people should have for the coming future.
@SSS: You are living rent free in my mind when it comes to your comments about California. Never has a state with so much fucked up so badly in such a short time.
As to the power plant map……
IF I was an Evil Genius, I would be making plans to form 10 10-man teams to take out these plants in a rolling schedule. You could probably take out 2 plants/day per team for 3 days before the cops caught on.
So that is 10 x 10 x 2 x 3 = 600 power plants.
If you picked power plants near large population centers, you would have the most impact.
If you could damage a nuke plant, say with several dozen RPGs, that would be the grand prize I guess.
Then you roll in and start picking off the replacement crews and viola’ – mass casualties and mayhem and tons of $$$ lost.
There has already been several incidents where transformers were shot up and I don’t think that any power plants except nuclear plants have been hardened. I drive by one of the major generating stations for north Houston and all they have is a chain link fence that I could crash through in my truck!
IF I was an Evil Genius, just sayin’…..