US power plants may avert retirement in 2026, EIA says

By Laila Kearney

Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. power plants scheduled to be retired in 2026 could stay online longer, the Department of Energy's research arm said on Monday, building on a trend that began last year as electricity use and prices hit record levels in some parts of the country.

Across the U.S., some 11 gigawatts of power-generating capacity had been expected to shut this year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Nearly 60% of that is coal-fired power and the rest is natural gas-fired, the EIA said in its research.

"The plans may be more subject to change than usual, with policy shifts recently delaying retirements at several coal plants," the EIA said. In 2025, only 4.6 gigawatts of electric-generating capacity retired, the lowest since 2008, and less than half of what was scheduled to be retired for the year.

Those delayed retirements included peakers, used only when demand is at its maximum, and baseload power. They followed emergency orders from the U.S. Department of Energy to extend the operations of several large - mostly coal - power plants.

COAL IS RELIABLE BASELOAD BUT HIGHLY POLLUTING

The DOE has cited concerns about power shortages on the grid as part of its reasoning for continuing to use the power plants, some of which were built in the middle of the last century.

Coal-fired power plants are generally considered a reliable and around-the-clock power source, but they are more polluting than most other forms of electricity generation.

Several of the coal plants that averted retirement last year - including the J.H. Campbell in Michigan and Cumberland plant in Tennessee - were instead scheduled to be shut this year. Those closures, however, might be delayed again, the EIA said.