Electricity generation from units that primarily consume coal in the U.S. Lower 48 states decreased for all hours of the day by about 23% between 2021 and 2023, according to our Form EIA-930, Hourly and Daily Balancing Authority Operations Report. Most of the decline occurred between 2022 and 2023, when coal-fired generation fell 19% and the average natural gas spot price at the Henry Hub decreased by more than 60%.

U.S. wholesale and retail propane prices were slightly lower on average this winter than last winter, largely because of mild weather and robust propane inventories heading into this winter heating season. Despite lower prices and lagging domestic demand, however, continuing international demand for U.S. propane contributed to large withdrawals and left end-of-winter propane inventories below last winter's year-end levels.

U.S. West Coast refiners are using more hydrogen purchased from merchant suppliers than from their own production. From 2012 to 2022, hydrogen purchased by refiners in the region increased 29% to about 550 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). Over the same period, on-site refinery-produced hydrogen production from natural gas fell 20% to about 330 MMcf/d. Merchant suppliers accounted for more than 62% of the hydrogen consumed by West Coast refineries in 2022.

In the past 10 years, more than 34 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power capacity were added in China, bringing the country's number of operating nuclear reactors to 55 with a total net capacity of 53.2 GW as of April 2024. An additional 23 reactors are under construction in China. The United States has the largest nuclear fleet, with 94 reactors, but it took nearly 40 years to add the same nuclear power capacity as China added in 10 years.

In the first part of our two-part series on Japan's energy policies in the electric power sector, we examined policies affecting generation from non-fossil fuel sources, namely renewable sources and nuclear generation.