July 15, 2024--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--What started as a trickle may turn into a torrent. Operators of coal-fired electric generators have delayed a number of planned coal-fired generator closures in recent years, citing everything from skyrocketing electric demand growth from data centers to delays in bringing replacement resources online. Last year was the hottest on record, shattering hundreds of U.S. temperature records. Scorching temperatures at the start of the summer of 2024 adds new urgency to the debate: do you want your power reliable, or clean?

At the start of this year, Industrial Info Resources was projecting just under 5 gigawatts (GW) of U.S. coal-fired generating capacity would be retired this year. But, in a mid-year update, that number fell to about 3 GW as utilities delayed retirement dates for some coal-fired generators.