U.S. electricity generation from renewable energy – chiefly wind and solar – is expected to increase substantially in 2022 after a jump this year, though it would still trail natural gas by a wide margin, federal researchers said in a report.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expected renewable generation to increase 7% in 2021 and 10% in 2022. In 2020, renewables accounted for about 21% of electricity generation, just ahead of nuclear power (20%) and coal (19%) but well below natural gas (40%).

Renewables eclipsed both nuclear and coal for the first time in 2020, EIA said.

“We forecast that the share of electricity generation produced by natural gas in the United States will average 37% in 2021 and 35% in 2022,” EIA researchers said. Market...