Sources of Power: PA Energy Stats
Roughly 13 million people live and work in Pennsylvania, consuming 248,130 Giga Watt-hours (GWh) annually. It sounds enormous because it is. And what's even more incredible is that Pennsylvania makes so much energy that it exports it to power other states.
Where Does Pennsylvania's Energy Come From?
Pennsylvania is the third-largest net supplier of total energy to other states, after Wyoming (coal) and Texas (natural gas).
With major natural gas production sites in the Marcellus and Utica shale, PA produced 7.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2020. It is second only to Texas in natural gas production and the state has 49 underground gas storage sites--the most of any state. Over half of PA households use natural gas for home heating.
PA is the third-largest coal-producing state in the nation after Wyoming and West Virginia. PA produces 975 million short tons annually, mainly from deep shaft mines. In comparison, top producing Wyoming digs up 4,907 million short tons annually from strip mining.
The combination of natural gas and nuclear power enables PA to make more power that it needs. In 2021, the state generated more than 241 million MWh, and exported 85.5 million MWh to supply other states.
Understanding What's Watt
Because PA generates and uses so much electricity, it helps to understand how much energy is in a Megawatt (MW) or a Gigawatt (GW)
For example, an average LED bulb in your home uses about 10 watts.
A hand-held blow dryer uses around 1000 watts.
One Megawatt = 1 million watts. That's equal to 1,000 kW or roughly 1,000 blow dryers running at the same time.
One Gigawatt = 1 billion watts. That's 1,000,000 kW or around 1,000,000 blow dryers running all at once.
Generation Sources
According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, about 239 power plants in PA produce electricity with a combined generating capacity of 52.1 GW.
Natural Gas 49.4%
The state's 64 natural gas generators make up 25.3 GW of total capacity.
Nuclear 29.9%
In 2020, Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation after Illinois in electricity generation from nuclear power. The state's four nuclear plants account for 9.5 GW of total capacity.
Coal 16.9%
Ten years ago, coal made nearly half of the state's generation capacity. Now, only 17 coal-fired plants now make up less than 10 GW total capacity in the state. Of these, four date from 1977 or older while another nine make up 86 MW or less of capacity.
Renewables 3.2%
Renewables include wind, solar, biomass, and hydroelectric generating plants. In January, 2020, Wind and solar accounted for 1.5 GW of installed capacity while 17 hydroelectric plants made up .9 GW of capacity. investment and development in wind, solar, and hydro will push renewables past coal's share in generation in just a few years.
Petroleum-Fired Sources 0.3%
Of the 35 Petroleum fired plants, most generation units produce less than 20 MW. All told, Distillate fuel oil power generators made up 2 GW of total installed capacity.
Renewable Energy
A century ago, the Keystone State was best known for rich bituminous coal fields in its southwest corner and rarer high-grade anthracite coal in its east-central counties. But with climate change a growing concern the state is shifting to cleaner fuels and renewable technologies to provide a more sustainable power supply to Pennsylvania energy customers.
Pennsylvania's renewable energy capacity has been growing since 2011 by providing grants, loans, and tax breaks to renewable energy projects. Since then, the solar power grew by four times and wind power now supplies more than two-fifths of the state's renewable electricity capacity.
Solar PowerIn 2004, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a law, Act 213, requiring Pennsylvania??™s utilities to acquire a percentage of their electricity from solar photovoltaics over the next fifteen years and beyond. Utilities purchase solar renewable energy credits (S-RECs) that are bundled with the energy they purchase from their generation suppliers.
In PA, the current installed capacity is 873.9 MW and is comprised of two types: utility scale and small scale.
- Utility scale solar currently produces about 0.41% of the state's electricity. Utility scale farms (over 5 MW) produce only about 17 thousand MWh. In 2020, installed capacity increased by 350 MW. In 2021, more than 11 gigawatts of Pennsylvania-based utility scale solar projects were purposed for connection to the PJM grid. However, there are now so many solar projects in line that the grid operator, PJM [link to PJM on PA electricity page w/PJM], recently announced a two-year moratorium in order to review new requests.
- Small scale solar installation (those less than 5 MW) comprise more than three-fourths of the state's net solar generation in 2021. Small scale solar installations produce 44 thousand MWh. These include rooftop solar panel arrays with generating capacities of 1 megawatt or less, and the rest was from solar generating facilities larger than 1 megawatt.
As of 2021, the state had 26 operating wind farms with about 1,459 megawatts of generating capacity and expects to see development of 4,000 MW of wind energy, particularly in off-shore wind turbines along Lake Erie.
Utility Scale BiomassBiomass primarily burns municipal solid waste and landfill gas to produce electricity. Pennsylvania primarily burns wood and forest by-products for boilers that are used to heat schools and other buildings. PA has a number of small farm digester projects that convert cow manure into methane to fuel generators. Biomass accounts for one-fifth of the state's renewable energy sources, producing about 144 thousand MWh.
HydroelectricHydroelectric power accounted for more than one-third of Pennsylvania's renewable generation in 2020, producing about 221 thousand MWh. With over 80,000 miles of capable waterways, the state has the capacity to add over 600 MW of hydropower capacity. PA also has two pumped-storage systems, one at 482 MW and another with 1,070 MW of capacity. Pumped storage acts like a rechargeable battery. During high demand, water is released from an upper dam to flow through turbines and collect at the bottom in a retention pond. At night, when electricity prices are low, the water is pumped back up to the upper dam to be used again.
GeothermalThere are no known conventional geothermal resources suitable for power production in Pennsylvania.