Wind Beat Coal Two Months in a Row for U.S. Electricity Generation

Wind turbines generated more electricity than coal-burning power plants across the United States in March and April, outstripping the dirtiest fuel for two consecutive months for the first time, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The crossover in wind and coal generation is the latest milestone in the country’s energy transition as renewables rise and coal declines. In recent years, breakthroughs in technology have lowered the cost of building new wind turbines, solar panels and battery storage, helping renewable energy replace coal as the cheapest power source in many places.

Renewable energy has also gotten a boost from tax credits awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate law Congress passed in 2022. And states have passed regulations mandating that utilities transition away from fossil fuels, particularly coal. More than 20 states — including Minnesota, North Carolina and Nebraska — have enacted legislation that requires utilities to get all their electricity from clean, carbon-free sources by 2050 or before.

Those three factors — shifts in the economics of energy, federal tax credits and state mandates — have led to explosive growth in renewable energy in recent years, said Timothy Fox, a managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, a consulting firm.

“When project developers are considering which resources to deploy in the grid, they look 20, 30, 40 years down the line,” Mr. Fox said. “From that perspective, it’s hard to envision building a coal plant today.”

Environmentalists have also focused on the economics of coal-fired power plants in recent years, a strategy that contributed to the closing of all coal plants in New England. In Michigan and Louisiana, climate groups successfully persuaded state regulators to stop utilities from recouping their losses from burning coal by passing the costs to customers.

Coal plants have retired at a rapid pace over the past 25 years, the Energy Information Administration data shows. From 2000 to 2024, total coal capacity in the United States nearly halved, while wind capacity increased by more than 60 times. Natural gas capacity nearly tripled during that time as it started to replace coal from around 2005, when the fracking boom made large quantities of cheap natural gas available.

In April 2024, fossil fuels still accounted for the majority of electricity generation in the United States, with natural gas generating 39 percent of all power and coal generating 12 percent. Nuclear power followed fossil fuels, supplying 18.5 percent of electricity. Wind generated 15 percent while solar was responsible for 6 percent.

Analysts expect wind energy will grow to provide around 35 percent of all electricity needs in the United States and Canada by 2050, said Cory Arce Gessert, a vice president of project development at DNV, an energy consulting firm.

“Even five years ago, you could see wind as a little supplement to the energy system,” Ms. Gessert said. “And now we are seeing it as a major component, a necessary component.”

In the United States, wind produces the most electricity in spring and the least in the summer.

April has consistently been the month where coal generation falls below renewable energy as some coal plant operators turn off their generators because electricity demand tends to drop in the spring. Coal use typically rises in winter and summer months when power demand spikes for heating and air-conditioning.