The great transformation of US power

The US power sector faces unprecedented change with the rise of renewables and gas

It's been a bad year for coal. Production is expected to fall nearly 20% in 2016-the biggest drop in a single year since the government started keeping count in 1949. Demand is on pace to shrink by 10% as cheap natural gas supplants coal as the dominant fuel for power providers. Industry stalwarts Peabody Energy, Patriot Coal, Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Resources have been pushed into bankruptcy. Coal's terrible year means 2016 will likely be remembered as a turning point in the US power sector. Coal's reign is giving way to a combination of natural gas and increasingly competitive wind and solar. In 2007, the US burned coal to generate half of its electricity, but that dominance has e