Commodities
US Coal Phase-Out Slows in 2025 With Just 2.6 GW Retired, Plans Shift Ahead, EIA Says
US coal-fired capacity retirements dropped to 2.6 gigawatts in 2025, the lowest level since 2010, the US Energy Information Administration said Monday.Operators had initially scheduled about 8.5 GW of closures for 2025, but nearly 4.8 GW were pushed to later years while roughly 1.1 GW of retirements were scrapped, the report said.Plans to shut 1.2 GW of coal capacity slated for 2027 were withdrawn, while another facility postponed its expected 2026 closure timeline to 2029, according to the EIA.Coal capacity closures have eased significantly from earlier years, with 2022 seeing 13.7 gigawatts, roughly 6.5% of the fleet, shut down, compared with much lower levels recorded in 2025.Only four facilities retired coal units in 2025, including sites in Delaware, Arizona, Utah, and Iowa, together accounting for about 2.6 GW or roughly 1.5% of total capacity, the agency said.The Intermountain Power Project in Utah represented the largest closure, with 1,800 MW retired, though part of its capacity was replaced by a 1,017 MW natural gas-fired plant at the same site, the report said.Federal intervention also slowed retirements, as the US Department of Energy issued emergency orders requiring several coal plants to remain available to support grid reliability, the agency said.These directives covered facilities across multiple states, including Michigan, Washington, Indiana, and Colorado, with a combined capacity exceeding 3 GW, according to the EIA.Most of the affected plants have since deferred their retirement timelines from 2025 into early or mid-2026, according to the EIA.Additional delays came from three other plants totaling about 2.2 GW, where operators opted to postpone closures originally scheduled for 2025, the report added.In one case, Transalta Centralia Unit 2 in Washington is now set to be converted into a natural gas-fired facility, with the transition currently targeted for completion by 2028.Looking ahead, about 6.4 GW of coal capacity, or nearly 4% of the fleet, is expected to retire in 2026, although these projections remain subject to policy and market developments, the EIA said.