Stacked bars
U.S. Power Plant Retirements by Fuel
Nameplate capacity of generators retired each year, by fuel, gigawatts
Plays the chart through its history. Pauses are where the data set a record or moved most.
EIA Form 860M, generators of 1 MW or more in the 50 states and DC, by the year they retired.
What leaves the grid each year. Coal closures drove the late-2010s wave; with demand growing again, utilities are delaying closures, and the bars show how far retirements have fallen.
What this chart reads
- U.S. Coal Capacity Retired · Annual (GW)as “Coal”latest 2025-01-01
- U.S. Natural Gas Capacity Retired · Annual (GW)as “Gas”latest 2025-01-01
- U.S. Nuclear Capacity Retired · Annual (GW)as “Nuclear”latest 2025-01-01
- U.S. Other Capacity Retired · Annual (GW)as “Other”latest 2025-01-01
Sources
U.S. Coal Capacity Retired · Annual (GW). Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m), the monthly workbook. EIA data are U.S. government works in the public domain; EIA asks that it be credited as the source. Refreshed weekly.
U.S. Natural Gas Capacity Retired · Annual (GW). Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m), the monthly workbook. EIA data are U.S. government works in the public domain; EIA asks that it be credited as the source. Refreshed weekly.
U.S. Nuclear Capacity Retired · Annual (GW). Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m), the monthly workbook. EIA data are U.S. government works in the public domain; EIA asks that it be credited as the source. Refreshed weekly.
U.S. Other Capacity Retired · Annual (GW). Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m), the monthly workbook. EIA data are U.S. government works in the public domain; EIA asks that it be credited as the source. Refreshed weekly.
Charts are drawn from Palanor's signal library and recomputed from source data on every view. Transformations (changes, indexing, year-on-year rates) are Palanor's.