A Look at Southern Company’s Generation Mix

At 46 GW (gigawatts) Southern Company (SO) has the second-largest generation capacity in the country. With the fall in natural gas prices, Southern Company effectively increased its gas-fired generation in the last few years relative to coal. Of the total power produced by Southern Company in 2016, 47% came from natural gas while coal, the traditional favorite, accounted for about 31%.

It should be noted that top utilities such as Southern Company, Duke Energy (DUK), and American Electric Power (AEP) generate a large portion of their power from coal.

Among the top utilities, NextEra Energy (NEE) has the cleanest generation mix, with 49% of generation fired by natural gas. Coal accounts for just 2% of its total generation. You can read more about its generation mix in NEE Has One of the Cleanest Generation Mixes in the US.

According to the EIA (Energy Information Administration), coal accounted for 30% while natural gas accounted for 34% of the total power produced in the US in 2016. Renewables produced 15%, and nuclear produced 20% of the country’s total power in 2016.