The Trump administration is spending heavily to keep aging coal plants online in the name of reliability, but new data shows coal units are breaking down more often than any other resource on the grid. (Heatmap)
Environmental Defense Fund’s review of NERC data found coal’s equipment-related outage rate above 12%—roughly double wind’s 6.6%—driven by aging units, reduced maintenance, and tougher cycling as plants as coal shifts from baseload to a stop-gap role.
Despite its setbacks, short-term coal use is rising as natural gas prices climb and load growth accelerates—a combo that boosts near-term economics even as the fleet faces long-term performance limits.