Natural Gas Is Losing Market Share to Coal -- Market Realist

Updates

July 17, 2013: a reader noted, and I agree -- great comment:

Peaking plants will be fired up to meet AC loads. Plus natural gas has to "idle" when wind and solar are available. It's too expensive to build coal plants but when they are up and running they can compete with $4 gas.... 

Original Post

Is that a typo in the headline? Nope.

Natural gas is losing market share to coal.

I don't get it:

At the linked article:

For most of 2012, natural gas gained significant market share (mostly against coal) for use in power generation. However, in 2013, natural gas prices have risen relative to coal, causing natural gas to lose some market share in the power generation sector.

But, it may be only temporary:

Despite the recent decline in market share on a year-over-year basis, many expect that coal-to-gas switching will continue to be a long-term trend. For example, the government agency known as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted in a report from December 2012 that in its forecast, coal remains the largest energy source for energy generation, but “its share of total generation declines from 42 percent in 2011 to 35 percent in 2040.” The EIA also stated that market concerns about greenhouse gas emissions continue to dampen the expansion of coal-fired capacity in its forecasts.

Again, look at that graph above. Last year, natural gas accounted for 32% of US power generation; this year, only 26%. Who wudda thought?

I'm not sure why the MarketRealist put the money of May twice into the graph above.  And no February. If that's a DOE graph, it makes sense, but I wouldn't expect MarketRealist to make such a glaring mistake.