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Today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration ("EIA") reported that coal made up more than 80% of retired electricity generating capacity in 2015.
It is well-known that coal's role in electricity generation has been diminishing. The EIA article provides that "[n]early 18 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity was retired in 2015, a relatively high amount compared with recent years. More than 80% of the retired capacity was conventional steam coal."
The retired coal-fired generating units were aging. In fact, the EIA reported that "[t]he coal units that were retired in 2015 were mainly built between 1950 and 1970, and the average age of those retired units was 54 years." The "younger" units are staying put, as the rest of the coal fleet that continues to operate has an average age of 38 years, according to the EIA.
How big of impact is this? The amount of coal capacity retired in 2015 was reportedly about 4.6% of the nation's coal capacity at the beginning of that year. Breaking it down further to a state level, the EIA reports that nearly half of the 2015 retired coal capacity was located in three states—Ohio, Georgia, and Kentucky—each retired at least 10% of their coal capacity in 2015.
In addition, earlier this month, the EIA reported that "[e]lectric generating facilities expect to add more than 26 GW of utility-scale generating capacity to the power grid during 2016." Solar, natural gas and wind are reportedly the resources that together will make up 93% of the additions.
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