Energy

Mapping Every Power Plant in the United States

Published

7 years ago

August 18, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

Note: Updated to reflect 2017 numbers

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.

Related Topic: What it Takes to Power New York (Slideshow)

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

Coal-fired power

Data visualized like this shows there is still a large reliance on specific energy types such as coal, hydro, and nuclear. For example, in 2017, 27 states still rely on coal 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

Solar power

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 10% of total electricity generation in the state.

Coal Power Map

The United States has 400 coal-fired power plants that generate 30% of the nation’s electricity. Coal produces the majority of energy in 13 sates, but thanks to America’s Clean Power Plan, a whopping 111 plants have been shut down since 2015.

Natural Gas Power Map

The United States has 1,793 natural gas power plants that generate 34% of the nation’s electricity. Natural gas is the primary source of power in 19 states.

Nuclear Power Map

The United States has 61 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 1,444 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 999 wind power plants that generate 6% 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 1,721 solar power plants that generate 1% of the nation’s electricity.

Oil Power Map

The United States has 1,076 oil-fired power plants that generate less than 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.

Related Topics:oil energy natural gas green nuclear power united states solar wind renewable

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Energy

Visualizing the Scale of Global Fossil Fuel Production

How much oil, coal, and natural gas do we extract each year? See the scale of annual fossil fuel production in perspective.

Published

2 days ago

January 31, 2023

Govind Bhutada

The Scale of Global Fossil Fuel Production

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.

Fossil fuels have been our predominant source of energy for over a century, and the world still extracts and consumes a colossal amount of coal, oil, and gas every year.

This infographic visualizes the volume of global fossil fuel production in 2021 using data from BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy.

The Facts on Fossil Fuels

In 2021, the world produced around 8 billion tonnes of coal, 4 billion tonnes of oil, and over 4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

Most of the coal is used to generate electricity for our homes and offices and has a key role in steel production. Similarly, natural gas is a large source of electricity and heat for industries and buildings. Oil is primarily used by the transportation sector, in addition to petrochemical manufacturing, heating, and other end uses.

Here’s a full breakdown of coal, oil, and gas production by country in 2021.

Coal Production

If all the coal produced in 2021 were arranged in a cube, it would measure 2,141 meters (2.1km) on each side—more than 2.5 times the height of the world’s tallest building.

China produced 50% or more than four billion tonnes of the world’s coal in 2021. It’s also the largest consumer of coal, accounting for 54% of coal consumption in 2021.

Rank	Country	2021 Coal Production (million tonnes)	% of Total
#1	🇨🇳 China	4,126.0	50%
#2	🇮🇳 India	811.3	10%
#3	🇮🇩 Indonesia	614.0	8%
#4	🇺🇸 U.S.	524.4	6%
#5	🇦🇺 Australia	478.6	6%
#6	🇷🇺 Russia	433.7	5%
#7	🇿🇦 South Africa	234.5	3%
#8	🇩🇪 Germany	126.0	2%
#9	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	115.7	1%
#10	🇵🇱 Poland	107.6	1%
	🌍 Other	600.9	7%
	Total	8,172.6	100%

India is both the second largest producer and consumer of coal. Meanwhile, Indonesia is the world’s largest coal exporter, followed by Australia.

In the West, U.S. coal production was down 47% as compared to 2011 levels, and the descent is likely to continue with the clean energy transition.

Oil Production

In 2021, the United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia were the three largest crude oil producers, respectively.

Rank	Country	2021 Oil Production (million tonnes)	% of Total
#1	🇺🇸 U.S.	711.1	17%
#2	🇷🇺 Russia	536.4	13%
#3	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	515.0	12%
#4	🇨🇦 Canada	267.1	6%
#5	🇮🇶 Iraq	200.8	5%
#6	🇨🇳 China	198.9	5%
#7	🇮🇷 Iran	167.7	4%
#8	🇦🇪 UAE	164.4	4%
#9	🇧🇷 Brazil	156.8	4%
#10	🇰🇼 Kuwait	131.1	3%
	🌍 Other	1172.0	28%
	Total	4221.4	100%

OPEC countries, including Saudi Arabia, made up the largest share of production at 35% or 1.5 billion tonnes of oil.

U.S. oil production has seen significant growth since 2010. In 2021, the U.S. extracted 711 million tonnes of oil, more than double the 333 million tonnes produced in 2010.

Natural Gas Production

The world produced 4,036 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2021. The above graphic converts that into an equivalent of seven billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to visualize it on the same scale as oil and gas.

Here are the top 10 producers of natural gas in 2021:

Rank	Country	2021 Natural Gas Production (billion m³)	% of Total
#1	🇺🇸 U.S.	934.2	23%
#2	🇷🇺 Russia	701.7	17%
#3	🇮🇷 Iran	256.7	6%
#4	🇨🇳 China	209.2	5%
#5	🇶🇦 Qatar	177.0	4%
#6	🇨🇦 Canada	172.3	4%
#7	🇦🇺 Australia	147.2	4%
#8	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	117.3	3%
#9	🇳🇴 Norway	114.3	3%
#10	🇩🇿 Algeria	100.8	2%
	🌍 Other	1106.3	27%
	Total	4,036.9	100%

The U.S. was the largest producer, with Texas and Pennsylvania accounting for 47% of its gas production. The U.S. electric power and industrial sectors account for around one-third of domestic natural gas consumption.

Russia, the next-largest producer, was the biggest exporter of gas in 2021. It exported an estimated 210 billion cubic meters of natural gas via pipelines to Europe and China. Around 80% of Russian natural gas comes from operations in the Arctic region.