U.S. Utilities See Drop in Coal Plant Retirements

According to S&P Global, utilities will only be retiring 3.0 GW of U.S. coal-fired capacity in 2024, which will be the lowest level since 2015. While 14.1 GW are currently scheduled for retirement in 2025, this is more than 15% below the 2025 levels estimated in late 2023.

The drop in retirements is driven in large part by utilities looking to meet the rise in electricity demand by tech companies, which are building datacenters to support new artificial intelligence applications. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates datacenters could consume up to 9% of annual U.S. electricity generation by 2030.

Click here to read S&P Global's article.