Approaches to comparing renewable electricity generation with other source

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has published an interesting article highlighting two approaches to compare renewable electricity generation with other sources. Essentially, the approaches look at “the fossil fuel equivalence approach and the captured energy approach. The choice of approach may serve different analytical or statistical needs.” In 2018, the fossil fuel equivalence approach showed that primary energy consumption for electric power generation from noncombustible renewable sources was equal to consuming 5,989 trillion British thermal units (Btu), or 15% of the total energy consumption for utility-scale electricity generation in that year. This value includes 2,218 trillion Btu of energy transformed into electricity based on the constant heat content of electricity and an adjustment of 3,771 trillion Btu to reflect the weighted average heat rate for fossil fuel-fired power plants. EIA estimates total primary energy produced and consumed in the United States. To compare contributions by various sources, estimates of total energy must be in a common unit. EIA uses the energy content of the source measured in British thermal units, which are derived from the underlying heat content of fuels reported to EIA in physical units.