These 15 Coal Plants Would Have Retired. Then Came AI and Trump. Utilities started reversing coal power’s “irreversible” decline. Will it last? “We know these coal plants are dirty, they’re uneconomic, they’re costing customers so much money, and they’re polluting the air.”

7 comments

1. They are dirty, but given the load growth, likely not uneconomic. Data centers are willing to pay >10 cents / kWh or more. It’s not about how much, but all about how soon, so restarting an existing plant is always going to be a quicker way to get power.

2. existing coal is cheaper than new anything ex-subsidies, lets not make things up.

   the us has zero new coal plants under construction, the battles won its only a matter of if we take an economic hit to deco early while china and india are building new capacity or if we let them run out their existing life.

3. Why do you think they are hamstringing renewables development? They’re delaying the inevitable and giving the companies that run the coal plants a few more years of profits.

4. Eastern PA utility PM here.  Demand is thru the roof and there is no new generation on the horizon.  It takes 5ish years to open the simplest combined cycle gas plant  So we have to continue to operate old plants. This is a political problem, not an industry problem.  

5. There’s a lot of people that like soot. Rolling back the fine particulate air quality emissions standards to 1960s/70s level makes a coal plant easier to maintain, thereby requiring less top-up from government to keep it running beyond its expected economic life. Less fuss and worry about coal ash disposal can also save money. Stop worrying about dust off the coal trains, piles and conveyors, who cares, save money. Maybe offer free respiratory disease meds for those downwind people. That’s nothing compared to the heaps of money involved. Shorter life expectancy saves money too and reduces the need for retirement savings, social security and SNAP benefits. Win-win-win.

6. But….. he says he’s really, really incredibly smart!!!

7. I hope we survive this trend, and get back to a sustainable path. the technology is improving, due to other nations taking the helm.

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