Natural gas usage is expected to surpass coal consumption in U.S.' power generation this year, the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced on Thursday.
Although coal has been the dominant source of electricity generation in the U.S. for decades, the EIA expects natural gas-fired production to exceed that from coal on an annual basis in 2016.
Electricity generation from natural gas first surpassed production from coal in April 2015 on a monthly basis. Shares of gas and coal in electricity production were almost identical last year.
This year, however, the EIA forecasts natural gas to provide 34 percent of the total electricity output, while coal's share is expected to fall to 32 percent.
The EIA said coal’s falling and gas’ rising contribution were "mainly a market-driven response to lower natural gas prices that have made natural gas generation more economically attractive."
Between 2000 and 2008, coal was less expensive than gas, and supplied about 50 percent of total electricity output in the U.S.
Beginning in 2009, the price gap between the resources started narrowing, thanks to the ‘shale revolution’ in the country.
In 2000, the US produced 20.2 trillion cubic feet of (tcf) or 572 billion cubic meters (bcm), of natural gas. This amount rose to 21.6 tcf (612 bcm) in 2009, and reached 28.7 tcf (813 bcm) in 2015, thus rising 42 percent in 15 years, EIA data shows.
Coal production in the U.S., however, "dropped 10.3 percent year-over-year in 2015 to below 900 million short tons (MMst), the lowest annual level since 1986," according to the EIA.
"In 2015, the productivity capacity of U.S.’ coal mines decreased for the fourth year in a row to 1,165 MMst, a decline of 6.3 percent from the 2014 levels," the EIA said.
The EIA also forecasts share of hydropower in electricity generation in 2016 to be 6 percent, and share of non-hydro renewables to be 8 percent.
By Ovunc Kutlu in New York
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr