Retirements of coal generators accelerating in 2025

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published last month an article warning that planned retirements of coal-fired electric-generating capacity are expected to increase in 2025.

The EIA reports that electricity generators plan to retire 12.3 gigawatts of capacity in 2025, “a 65% increase in retirements compared with 2024.” Coal generating capacity will comprise 66 percent of that, or 8.1 GW of planned retirements. This will represent 4.7 percent of the total U.S. coal fleet that was in operation at the end of 2024.

The EIA states that: “The largest U.S. coal plant that generators plan to retire this year is the 1,800-megawatt (MW) Intermountain Power Project in Utah, where an 840-MW natural gas combined-cycle power block is expected to come online in July. J H Campbell (1,331 MW) in Michigan and Brandon Shores (1,273 MW) in Maryland are two other large coal plants expected to retire this year.”

Natural gas generation closures will comprise 21 percent, or 2.6 GW. That only amounts to 0.5 percent of the natural gas fleet that was operating at the end of 2024. These are almost all simple-cycle, single-turbine natural gas plants that are less efficient, including generators in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The remaining 13 percent or so of closures, or 1.6 GW, is from petroleum-fired plants.

The EIA published this map of expected capacity retirements in 2025 from the Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.

This is unfortunately consistent with the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations on power plants that will largely force coal plants to retrofit for 90 percent carbon capture or retire. The litigation surrounding this rule is in legal abeyance for now.