The growth of solar has pushed renewables past coal in the regional grid that includes Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
In the PJM market – which encompasses West Virginia, Pennsylvania and part or all of 11 other states and the District of Columbia – renewables now generate more electricity than coal, according to April data.
On Thursday morning, newly released PJM data showed renewables generated nearly 11,800 megawatts of the region’s load. Coal generated less than 11,700 megawatts.
The surge in renewables has been driven by solar, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Solar set three peak records in PJM this month, on April 1, 16 and 17, the institute reported. Those records pushed solar above 11,000 megawatts for the first time, generating nearly 14% of the region’s electricity demand.
Gas and nuclear are currently the two dominant sources of power in the region.
President Donald Trump this month signed four executive orders aimed at increasing coal production and saving coal-burning power plants from retirement.
In recent years, though, the electricity market has favored gas, and increasingly, renewables.
Texas, once the largest user of coal for electricity, received half its power from utility-scale solar on April 11, according to the institute.
That follows a record-setting March for wind power in Texas. Texas is the country’s largest state consumer of electricity and like West Virginia is a major gas producer.
With 65 million people, PJM is the nation’s largest regional electricity market.
