Tracking Hydroelectricity across the USA

TRACKING HYDROELECTRICITY ACROSS THE USA

February 2012 edition
Capacity, generation and consumption data for hydroelectricity at the national U.S. and individual State level.
Data coverage is for the latest month, year to date, last 12 months and last 36 months.
updated with October 2011 data

Summary

In October 2011, a cumulative 78,501 MW of conventional hydroelectricity capacity (not including hydro pumped storage) across the USA generated 20,036 GWh of electricity. 6 MW of capacity have been added year to date and electricity generation from conventional hydroelectric sources is 28.28% higher than the same period the previous year. Hydroelectricity now accounts for 7.27% of total capacity across the USA and has accounted for 0.04% of all added capacity year to date.

Primary energy production from conventional hydroelectric sources equalled 195 Trillion BTUs in October 2011, with 99.35% of primary energy consumption being attributed to the Electric Power sector. Consumption of hydroelectricity has increased by 28.29% on a year to date basis compared with 2010, whilst total consumption has increased by 0.56% in the same period. Year to date, hydroelectricity accounted for 3.35% of total Primary Energy consumption; 35.93% of Renewable Energy (inclusive hydroelectricity) consumption and was equivalent to 56.09% of Non-Hydro Renewable Energy Primary Energy consumption.

The 20,036 GWh of electricity generated in October 2011 from conventional hydroelectric sources came primarily from Utilities (17,957GWh, 89.62%) and IPPs (1,947GWh, 9.72%). As of October, 42 States had generated a total of 278,985 gigawatthours* of electricity from Hydroelectricity in 2011. Washington had generated the most with 79,759GWh (28.99% of the total) whilst New Jersey generated the least (22GWh, 0.01%).

No additional conventional hydroelectric capacity was installed across the USA in October 2011, with total capacity remaining at 78,501 MW, an increase of 0.01% on the cumulative installed base in October 2010.Hydroelectric capacity as a percentage of total energy capacity has decreased by 0.12 percentage points since October 2010.

As of October 2011, 48 States had installed conventional hydroelectric capacity, 2 have added new capacity in 2011 whilst 3 have added new capacity since October 2010.

No new hydroelectric plants became operational across the USA in October 2011. 386 entities (public-owned, cooperative, investor-owned or private) had installed conventional hydroelectric capacity as of October 2011 with a combined cumulative capacity of 78,501 megawatts. The top 20 entities accounted for 82.13% of this total capacity.

This is just a snapshop of generation, consumption and capacity trends for hydroelectricity across the USA. The full report 'Tracking Hydroelectricity across the USA' contains over 70 pages of detailed tables, charts, maps and analysis and is updated monthly. Similar reports are also available for biomass and waste energy, geothermal energy, solar energy and wind energy.