Among generators that do not primarily rely on fossil fuels, nuclear plants are the most efficient — they ran at 92.3 percent of their capacity in 2015 — followed by hydroelectric at 35.8 percent<br />that year and wind at 32.2 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration.<br />According to the Energy Information Administration, conventional hydroelectric generating capacity stood at 78,956 megawatts in 2015,<br />while wind, the industry group says, reached 82,183 megawatts last year, about enough to run 24 million average American homes.<br />But hydroelectric power could still lead in terms of actual production: According to the Energy Information Administration’s most recent annual electric power report, hydroelectric<br />edged out wind in terms of power sent to the grid by roughly 30 percent in 2015, though both forms trailed fossil fuels and nuclear power by wide margins.<br />The wind industry crossed an important threshold in the United States last year, exceeding the generating capacity of hydroelectric<br />power for the first time, according to the main industry trade group, the American Wind Energy Association.
