Coal narrowed the gap to natural gas in October in terms of their respective shares of the US generation mix as total US power demand fell, according to US Energy Information Administration data.
The agency's Electric Power Monthly report -- released Friday -- shows coal-fired generation totaled about 99.4 TWh in October, accounting for 31.8% of US generation mix, compared with the 102.6 TWh produced by gas, or about 32.8% of generation.
Total US generation fell 11.1% compared with September to 312.8 TWh in October.
All fossil fuel generation dropped compared with September, but coal's decline was less steep. Coal-fired generation dipped 13.1% compared with the previous month, while gas-fired generation dropped 18.3%.
Through the first 10 months of the year, coal has accounted for 30.1% of generation, compared with 34.6% for gas. In the year-ago period, coal accounted for 34% of generation, compared with 32.4% for gas.
STOCKPILES RISE ON MONTH
Power sector coal stocks totaled 163.5 million st at the end of October, up 3.4%, or about 5.3 million st, compared with September. Total inventories, however, were down 6.9% year on year.
Overall, October stockpiles were 1% above the five-year average.
Subbituminous stocks totaled 91.1 million st, up 4.8% from September but down 3.8% from the year-ago month. Stocks were 13.5% above the five-year average for this point in the year.
Bituminous stockpiles totaled 68.4 million st, up 2% from September, but down 10.3% from the year-ago month. Stocks were 10.1% below the five-year average.
