US power plant owners and operators plan to retire nearly 11 GW of utility-scale electric generating capacity from the US power grid this year, according to data reported by the US Energy Information Administration in its latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Almost all the scheduled retirements are either coal-fired power plants (58%) or steam turbines and simple-cycle natural gas (42%).
The latest plans may be more subject to change than usual, with policy shifts recently delaying retirements at several coal plants. Last year, owners and operators planned to retire 12.3 GW of capacity but only retired 4.6 GW, the least since 2008, following emergency orders from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to extend the operations of several coal-fired plants.
Retirements of several coal-fired plants scheduled for last year were postponed to 2026: they were J.H. Campbell in Michigan, 1331 MW: South Oak Creek Units 7 and 8 in Wisconsin, 616 MW: R.M. Schahfer Units 17 and 18 in Indiana, 722 MW: Craig Station Unit 1 in Colorado, 427 MW: Comanche Unit 2 in Colorado, 335 MW: and F.B. Culley Unit 2 in Indiana, 90 MW.
In 2026, 6.4 GW of coal-fired capacity is scheduled to retire, which accounts for almost 4% of the US coal fleet that was in operation as of the end of 2025. Coal retirements were expected to increase last year after they slowed down in 2024. However, only 2.6 GW out of an anticipated 8.0 GW of coal capacity were retired, as the DOE issued emergency orders that temporarily postponed the retirement of large coal plants. Any renewed or new emergency orders could affect retirements planned for this year as well.
The largest coal retirements planned for this year are the 1331-MW J.H. Campbell in Michigan and the 1231-MW Cumberland Unit 2 in Tennessee.
In 2026, 4.6 GW of US natural gas-fired capacity, almost 1% of the operating natural gas fleet at the end of 2025, is scheduled for retirement. Most of the retiring natural gas capacity (76%) is at older steam turbine units, which are less efficient than the newer combined-cycle units.
Two ageing California plants, AES Alamitos and Huntington Beach, with a combined capacity of 1368 MW, will mark the largest natural gas retirement in 2026. The units were initially set to retire in 2020 and later in 2023 but were kept open to support grid demand. More efficient combined-cycle plants have been developed at both sites to replace the older units. Elwood Energy Units 1–7 in Illinois and Sabine Units 1, 3, and 4 in Texas are expected to retire 1050 MW and 1062 MW respectively this year. Eddystone Units 3 and 4, with a combined total of 760 MW, were set to retire last year; however, the retirements were delayed until 2026 following an emergency order issued by DOE.
