Read more at source.
Read more at source.
Five of the country's 10 largest coal-fired power plants had retirement dates. Some coal plant owners have already pushed back retirement timetables. For example, the Gibson plant in Indiana, the second-largest coal plant in the country, is set to close in 2038 instead of 2035, following an announcement from its owner, Duke Energy.
Despite these changes, they do not constitute a coal comeback in the United States. For that to happen, power companies would need to be building new plants to replace the many that are closing, and there is almost no development of new coal plants.
Southern Co., owner of Plant Bowen in Georgia, the largest coal plant in the country, had intended to close the plant by 2035. However, in response to forecasts of rising electricity demand, the company may extend the plant's life. This change was confirmed by Southern's CEO, Chris Womack, who cited demand from data centers as a reason for the possible extension.
The evidence so far only shows that some plants are getting small extensions on their retirement dates. This means a slowdown in coal's rate of decline, which is bad for the environment, but does little to change the long-term trajectory for the domestic coal industry.
