The amount of electricity produced by wind farms in the U.S. fell to a 33-month low on Monday, forcing power generators to crank up natural-gas fired plants to keep air conditioners humming during a hot summer day.
Over the past few years, much of the money energy firms have invested in new generation has gone into renewable power sources like wind and solar. But when the wind stops blowing and the sun does not shine, gas is still needed to keep the lights on.
Wind power in the Lower 48 states produced about 335,753 megawatt hours (MWh) on July 22, the lowest since Oct. 4, 2021, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
When the wind does not blow, power companies usually burn more gas because it is the only big source of power they can turn to quickly to provide more energy to maintain reliability.
And with power demand expected to keep growing as technology firms build more data centers and consumers use more electricity to power cars and heat homes and businesses, reliability is becoming increasingly important following some deadly blackouts like the February freeze in 2021 that left millions in Texas without power, heat and water for days.
Wind farms were on track to produce an average of just 4% of power generation this week, down from 7% last week, 12% so far in 2024 and 10% in 2023. Gas-fired power plants were producing an average of 48% of generation this week, up from 46% last week, 40% so far in 2024 and 41% in 2023.
It is not unusual for wind power to decline during the summer months, but this has been a particularly bad month for wind.
Six of the 10 lowest days for wind power so far this year have occurred in July. That compares with just two of the 10 lowest days during the same period in 2023.
Wind produced about 11% of the nation’s power in 2023 and is on track to produce about 11% in 2024 and 2025, according projections from the EIA.
But the amount of wind power produced in 2023 fell from a record high of 434.0 billion kilowatt-hours in 2022 to 425.0 billion kWh in 2023, the first annual decline in wind power produced since 1998. To be sure, EIA projects wind power will rise to 447.5 billion kWh in 2024.
Gas, for comparison, was on track to produce 1,719.4 billion kWh in 2024, which would top the record 1,695.3 billion kWh generated in 2023, which represented about 42% of the nation’s total power generation.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino, Editing by Franklin Paul)