Coal-fired plants will account for about 85% of total U.S. power capacity scheduled for retirement this year with natural gas and renewables taking a greater share of the supply, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a recent statement.
U.S. power plant operators were scheduled to retire about 12.6 gigawatt (GW) of coal-fired generating capacity in 2022 out of the total 14.9 GW capacity set to be retired. The largest coal power plant scheduled to go out of service in 2022 is the 1,305-megawatt (MW) William H. Zimmer plant in Ohio, the EIA said.
In 2022, 1.2 GW of U.S. natural gas-fired capacity is due for retirement, while at 0.8 GW, nuclear capacity retirements represent 5% of expected shutdowns this year, the EIA said.
The retiring natural gas capacity is made up of older steam and combustion turbine units. The largest U.S. natural gas plant due to close in 2022 is the Meramec power plant in Missouri, the agency said.
