Coal Plant Retirement Data
Decommissioning timelines, replacement capacity plans, and community transition data for 200+ coal plants scheduled to close -- the energy transition dataset in real time.
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What Is Coal Plant Retirement Data?
Coal Plant Retirement Data tracks the decommissioning timelines, replacement capacity plans, and community transition impacts for 200+ coal plants scheduled to close across the United States. This dataset captures real-time shifts in the energy transition as utilities navigate competing pressures: regulatory mandates, economic viability, grid reliability concerns, and emerging demand from data centers. The landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. While roughly 105 gigawatts of coal capacity representing 114 plants are still slated to operate through 2035, retirement schedules have become highly volatile. In 2025 alone, only 6.2 gigawatts of the 15 gigawatts initially slated for retirement actually went offline, as federal interventions and grid reliability concerns extended the operational lives of aging facilities. This dataset is essential for energy strategists, grid planners, and policymakers seeking to understand plant-level closures, workforce displacement patterns, and the complex interplay between coal's decline and new demand drivers.
Market Data
~105 GW (114 plants)
Coal Capacity Without Retirement Plans
Source: UC Santa Barbara
15 GW planned; 6.2 GW actual
Planned vs. Actual Retirements (2025)
Source: Ascend Analytics / IEA
15+ plants
Coal Plants with Delayed Retirements (Since 2024)
Source: DeSmog / Yale E360
106 GW (up from 35 GW in 2024)
Data Center Power Demand by 2035
Source: BloombergNEF
8 distinct archetypes
Coal Fleet Classification Groups
Source: UC Santa Barbara / Nature Energy
Who Uses This Data
What AI models do with it.do with it.
Grid Operators & Utilities
Plan replacement capacity and assess reliability risks as coal plants retire; identify which plants are most vulnerable to early closure based on economic and regulatory factors.
Policymakers & Climate Planners
Develop targeted retirement strategies that move beyond age-based approaches; apply context-specific levers to accelerate closures in high-priority regions while managing community transition impacts.
Data Center & Tech Companies
Locate regions with available or extended coal capacity to secure power supply for AI and compute infrastructure; evaluate the timeline and reliability of coal-backed generation as a transitional resource.
Community & Labor Organizations
Track plant closures, job displacement, and pension/health security impacts for miners and retirees; plan workforce transition programs and economic diversification strategies.
What Can You Earn?
What it's worth.worth.
Research Institutions & Think Tanks
Varies
License data for academic publications, policy reports, and analysis platforms; UC Santa Barbara and Columbia University models use proprietary frameworks for plant classification and vulnerability scoring.
Energy Analytics & Consulting Firms
Varies
Integrate retirement timelines, capacity forecasts, and community impact data into subscription services for utilities, grid operators, and investment advisors.
Advocacy & Environmental Groups
Varies
Use plant-level decommissioning data to support campaign strategy, litigation, and legislative advocacy; data is often publicly available via government sources (IEA, Department of Energy, MSHA).
Commercial Data Brokers
Varies
Package retirement forecasts, grid reliability assessments, and geospatial community transition metrics for energy infrastructure investors.
What Buyers Expect
What makes it valuable.valuable.
Plant-Level Granularity
Data must identify each coal facility by name, location, capacity, age, and retirement timeline—not aggregated regional estimates. Buyers need to model individual facility dynamics.
Contextual Classification Frameworks
Plants must be categorized by technical, economic, environmental, and socio-political factors that explain retirement drivers. One-size-fits-all categorization is insufficient for targeted policy and investment.
Real-Time Retirement Timeline Updates
Retirement dates shift frequently due to policy changes, grid reliability concerns, and demand shocks (e.g., data center growth). Data must reflect announced delays, extensions, and policy overrides as they occur.
Community Impact & Transition Data
Workforce size, pension/health security liabilities, local economic dependence, and available retraining programs must be included. Buyers need socio-political context, not just capacity numbers.
Replacement Capacity Alignment
Data should link coal retirements to planned renewable, nuclear, or gas capacity additions—or identify gaps in replacement capacity that create grid reliability risks.
Companies Active Here
Who's buying.buying.
Evaluates which coal plants to extend based on data center demand and grid reliability requirements; actively delays retirements to secure long-term generation contracts.
Develops carbon capture retrofit solutions for aging coal plants; targets facilities with extended operational horizons and potential AI/data center power off-take agreements.
Provides market analysis on coal-to-data-center transition trends; adjusted 2025–2032 decline forecasts from 60% to 39% based on prolonged plant operations.
Published Nature Energy study classifying 114 remaining coal plants into 8 retirement archetypes and developing vulnerability scoring frameworks for policymakers.
Issues emergency orders to extend coal plant retirements for grid stability; tracks actual vs. planned closures and manages federal overrides.
FAQ
Common questions.questions.
How many coal plants in the U.S. still have no retirement plan?
Roughly 105 gigawatts of coal capacity, representing 114 plants, are still slated to operate through 2035 without announced closure dates. A UC Santa Barbara study identified this as a critical gap that could derail U.S. climate goals.
Why are coal plant retirements being delayed?
Multiple factors: data center demand (expected to reach 106 GW by 2035), grid reliability concerns requiring utilities to keep aging plants online, higher natural gas prices, and federal policy support. In 2025, emergency DOE orders delayed six midwest and Colorado plants from retiring.
What framework does the data use to classify coal plants?
UC Santa Barbara researchers developed a framework combining graph theory and topological data analysis to classify the entire U.S. coal fleet into eight distinct retirement archetypes based on 68 technical, economic, environmental, and socio-political factors. Each plant receives a 'contextual retirement vulnerability' score.
What community data is included in coal plant retirement datasets?
Quality datasets include workforce size, pension and health security liabilities for retirees, local economic dependence, available retraining programs, and socio-political context. Coal mining employment declined 44% nationally between 2011 and recent years, with severe impacts on retiree security.
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