Dive Brief:
- Since November 2013, utilities and generators have announced the planned retirement of 5,360 MW of coal-fired generation, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
- The increase in planned retirements was driven by "the need to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulations together with weak electricity demand growth and continued competition from generators fueled by natural gas," said the EIA.
- The EIA projects about 60,000 MW of coal-fired generation to retire before 2020.
Dive Insight:
The outlook for coal power in the U.S is, well, not good. The EPA plans to announce carbon emissions standards for existing power plants in June, while the agency is also expected to finalize carbon emission standards for new power plants soon. Together, these regulations will effectively make it impossible to build new coal plants without carbon capture and storage technology, and will accelerate the retirement of the country's coal power plants.