LEARN / GLOSSARY
Dispatchable
A generator that can be operated on instruction rather than when conditions permit. EIA groups natural gas, coal and nuclear as dispatchable, and together they produced 75 percent of utility-scale electricity in 2025.
Definition
A dispatchable resource produces electricity when a system operator instructs it to, within its physical limits. EIA contrasts this with intermittent sources such as wind and solar, which produce only when the resource is available, and notes that dispatchable sources can operate as base-load generating units.
Why the dictionary version is insufficient
Dispatchability is treated as a binary property of a technology. In practice it is a matter of degree and of conditions. A gas plant without firm fuel delivery during a winter event is less dispatchable than its rating implies, and a battery is fully dispatchable for the duration of its charge and not at all afterwards. The useful question is dispatchable for how long, under what conditions, and with what fuel arrangement behind it.
Why it matters for capacity
An industrial facility drawing continuously depends on resources that can be instructed to run in the hours when conditions are worst. EIA expects the dispatchable share of generation to fall from 75 percent in 2025 to about 72 percent by 2027, which is the substance of most current reliability argument.
Related terms
Firm power · Effective load carrying capability · Capacity factor
Appears in
The Generation Mix
Why Supply Is Not Keeping Pace
Read next
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Wind and solar generated a record 17% of U.S. electricity in 2025. eia.gov
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity generation, capacity, and sales in the United States. eia.gov
- North American Electric Reliability Corporation, 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment. nerc.com