Coal’s Last Stand? U.S. Power Plants Face a Mass Exodus in 2025

The American coal industry, once the backbone of the nation’s electricity grid, is facing a reckoning in 2025. According to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the planned retirement of coal-fired power plants is set to double this year, marking one of the steepest declines in decades. An estimated 8.1 gigawatts (GW) of coal capacity is slated for closure, a sharp increase from 2024’s 4 GW retirement figure and a return to the more aggressive phaseouts seen over the past ten years. Coal’s share of…