The latest version of PacifiCorp’s long-term regional resource plan indicates that the utility could be burning coal until at least 2045.
The company’s proposed 2025 Integrated Resource Plan, released December 31, 2024, suggests the possibility of co-firing coal with other fuels or retrofitting coal plants with carbon capture, but for some plants, outright retirement is not expected in the next 20 years.
Less than a year ago, Rocky Mountain Power (RMP), PacifiCorp’s division in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming, said its Hunter and Huntington coal-fired would continue to burn coal until 2036 and 2042, respectively. Now their retirements could be pushed back even further.
This isn’t exclusive to the western United States. Last month, Alliant Energy, Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE) and Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPS) said they would shift the retirement of the coal-fired Columbia Energy Center from 2026 to 2029.
And these aren’t the only examples. Surging electricity demand from AI data centers, manufacturing and widespread electrification – along with concerns about grid reliability – is expected to prompt delays in plans to retire coal plants.
This is mirrored by increased support from the White House. Last week President Donald Trump issued executive orders calling for prioritizing energy development, such as by lifting regulations that impede development of fossil fuels.
The order called for a “national emergency” due to inadequate U.S. energy infrastructure and supply, emphasizing the need to bolster domestic energy production, transportation, refining and generation to safeguard national security and economic stability.
Federal agencies are now tasked with fast-tracking energy projects and infrastructure improvements through streamlined permitting under the Clean Water Act and other policies. The action could lead to repeals of former president Joe Biden’s power plant pollution regulations and an end to some policies that support renewables.
President Trump last week praised coal, a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been in decline. The president suggested coal could help meet surging electricity demand from manufacturing and massive hyperscale data centers needed for the growth of AI
“Nothing can destroy coal. Not the weather, not a bomb — nothing,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link last Thursday. “And we have more coal than anybody.”
Yet energy experts say any bump for coal under Trump is likely to be temporary since natural gas is cheaper and there’s a durable market for renewable energy no matter who holds the White House.
“It’s kind of been shown over the last three administrations even the president of the United States can’t change markets, the trend for coal,” said University of Wyoming economics professor Rob Godby. “It might lead to a reprieve.”
Coal-fired electricity can run around the clock with only periodic downtime for maintenance. President Trump mentioned coal could be a good source of backup power for large data centers.
But while tech firms that want off-the-grid power might invest in a “dirt cheap” coal-fired power plant, Godby said, such plants need time to fire up. They aren’t very good for the kind of on-the-spot backup power Trump was referring to in addressing the Davos conference.
The U.S. has some of the largest coal reserves in the world — enough to last more than 400 years at current mining rates, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
As coal has become less competitive due to cheaper renewables and natural gas, U.S. utilities and power producers have collectively accumulated a 138-million-ton stockpile of unused coal at their plants, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) cited from EIA in a recent analysis.
The industry relies heavily on reserves on public lands in the West, particularly the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. EIA expects stockpiles to remain high, staying well over 100 million tons throughout 2025.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
