Adding Hydrogen to EIA-860 Menu List

Request: EIA requests to add hydrogen (source code H2) to the menu list of energy source options given in Table 28 of the instructions for Form EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report. No changes are requested to Form EIA-860.

Background: Form EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report, collects electric generator data for all facilities in the U.S. with an existing or planned nameplate capacity of 1 MW or greater. These data include technology, energy source, year of operation, planned retirement date, and other technology-specific elements that provide the basis for understanding the nation’s 23,000 electric generators. There are a wide range of technologies and energy sources in this generator population. The instructions for Form EIA-860 provide menu lists of prime movers and energy sources to help respondents select from standardized options. These menu lists have changed over time as different technologies emerge to become more commonly used. Currently, there are 38 distinct energy source options that respondents can select. Among these options are “Other” energy sources that allow respondents to indicate, in a text field, an energy source such as hydrogen that is not specifically listed. EIA reviews these text entries and periodically updates the menu list if there is an energy source that appears frequently and should be added. These updates are commonly made during a re-clearance of the survey.

Occasionally, an industry development emerges quickly. Hydrogen’s use in electric power generation is an example of such a quick development. Although the use of hydrogen as a lone energy source to support combustion turbine operation is several years away, some plants are considering the use of hydrogen to supplement other energy sources. The recent and relatively quick development of this supplemental use is important to measure. Respondents who want to identify this capability currently have to select either the “Other Gases” (source code OG) or “Other Energy Sources” (source code OTH) energy source option, then provide a text description that hydrogen is the intended energy source. Users of the published data would like EIA to accurately capture respondents’ ability to use hydrogen, largely because it is viewed as a path toward greater renewables participation in electric generation. Eventually, hydrogen is the likely energy source used to store “excess” renewable energy which would avoid the curtailments that are occasionally required.

Benefit: This addition to the instructions for Form EIA-860, Annual Electric Generator Report, reduces the reporting burden for respondents by streamlining the data entry of this energy source. With the early adoption of hydrogen as a regular energy source, EIA will ensure the continued utility and accuracy of the data published from the survey.