Fortnightly Electricity Report, as of June 9

The turnaround has happened, for the first time during this virus crisis.

In the two weeks ending Tuesday night, electricity sales were nearly the same as in the comparable two weeks of 2019.

This year’s sales were just six tenths of a percent less, for the fortnight through the ninth of June. Which is remarkable since electricity sales have generally been five percent less during this virus crisis.

Additionally, coal generation didn’t decrease as much during this fortnight, as well as coal’s market share, which was about nineteen percent.

Consequently, the grid’s carbon dioxide emissions didn’t decrease as much during this fortnight, as well as its carbon intensity, which was about eight-tenths of a pound of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour.

Yes, there was extreme weather in parts of the country over this fortnight. Still, these stats are for the whole continental U.S. and for a two-week period, which means that the effect of weather differences between this and last year would be somewhat mitigated by other factors.

Will the turnaround in electricity sales, generation and emissions continue? Let’s see in the next Fortnightly Electricity Report, for the fortnight through June 23, which we’ll publish on June 25.