Energy Profile - U.S.

"The Land of Opportunity"

(Pop.: 340 mi; GDP: US$ 29,18 tri; debt: 119% of GDP; tax burden: 27%; prim. energy use: 2,18 Mtoe; electricity use: 4,100 TWh; inst. capacity: 1,323 GW; self-sufficiency: 106%)

Energy in the U.S. is drawn from a diverse portfolio of sources, the majority coming from fossil fuels, with emphasis on natural gas (NG).  Most NG production growth comes from shale gas & tight oil plays.  Figure 1 shows the U.S. primary energy consumption in 2023.

The outlook for new-build NG gen in the U.S. has dimmed considerably in recent years.  Looking forward to the 2023-2027 period, that drop is expected to continue.  Over the next five years, new-build NG gen are scheduled to account for only 5% of all new power plants scheduled to be built.  Last year, that percentage was about 11%, and five years ago, 41%.

Clean energy will dominate new U.S. power plant capacity added in 2023: solar, the star of the show, wind, battery storage, and nuclear make up 84% of utility-scale generating capacity planned to come online this year (Figure 2).

Solar’s intermittency is accelerating the deployment of BESS to shift surplus gen, leading to the installation of several gigawatts of storage capacity, mainly in CA, TX, and AZ (13.07, 14.17 GW, 3.85 GW resp. - grid-scale) [S&P, 2025].  Notably, BESS cluster in the U.S. SW due to high solar penetration, price volatility, mature power markets, and policies that reward flexibility.