The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook on September 10, revealing that renewable energy is expected to make up 23% of U.S. electricity generation in 2024, rising to 25% by 2025.
Biomass, a key component of renewable energy, contributed 2.44% to the U.S. renewable electricity mix in 2023. This share is projected to decrease to 2.19% in 2024 and further decline to 1.99% in 2025.
In 2023, biomass generated 21.1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity. This figure is anticipated to drop to 20.8 billion kWh in 2024, before rebounding to 21.1 billion kWh in 2025.
Biomass capacity within the U.S. electric power sector remained at 2.7 gigawatts (GW) for waste biomass and 2.3 GW for wood biomass at the end of 2023. These levels are expected to stay the same through 2025. In the industrial and commercial sectors, wood biomass capacity was 5.4 GW at the end of last year and is projected to remain constant. Conversely, waste biomass capacity in these sectors was 1.4 GW in 2023, expected to decrease to 1.3 GW in 2024 and stabilize at that level in 2025.
Consumption of waste biomass by the electric power sector was 0.167 quadrillion British thermal units (quad) in 2023, with a forecasted decline to 0.162 quad for both 2024 and 2025. Wood biomass consumption was 0.162 quad in 2023, expected to rise to 0.166 quad in 2024 and 0.171 quad in 2025.
In the industrial sector, waste biomass consumption is forecasted to decrease from 0.16 quad in 2023 to 0.162 quad in 2024 and 0.161 quad in 2025. Wood biomass consumption, however, is set to increase from 1.224 quad in 2023 to 1.275 quad in 2024 and 1.369 quad in 2025. The commercial sector’s consumption of waste biomass was 0.071 quad in 2023 and is expected to slightly rise to 0.072 quad in 2024 before dropping back to 0.071 quad in 2025. Wood biomass consumption in the commercial sector is forecasted to remain steady at 0.082 quad.
For the residential sector, wood biomass consumption is projected to stay at 0.431 quad in 2024 and 2025, down from 0.45 quad in 2023.
Overall, waste biomass consumption across all sectors was 0.398 quad in 2023 and is expected to decline to 0.396 quad in 2024 and 0.394 quad in 2025. Wood biomass consumption, however, is forecasted to increase from 1.918 quad in 2023 to 1.954 quad in 2024 and 2.052 quad in 2025.