Coal Use by U.S. Power Plants: Winning a Battle but Still Losing the War?

---

Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

---

Summary

An increasing amount of U.S. electricity was generated from coal during the first year of the Trump administration, which is a positive piece of good news for coal producers--but coal is projected to decline in 2026 and 2027. Use of that fuel for power generation remains well below its historic peak from a decade ago.

---

U.S. Increasing Use of Coal to Generate Power

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) most recent Electric Power Monthly report contained good news for coal producers: During the first 10 months of the second Trump administration, coal was used to generate more electricity when compared with the Biden years. For the January-October 2025 period, the EIA said, about 616,331 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity was generated from coal by utility-scale generators, up 13% from about 544,431 GWh in the comparable year-earlier period, and 9% from the January-October 2023 period, when it was 567,541 GWh.

Click on the image at right to see three years of U.S. electricity generated from coal over comparable 10-month periods (January-October).

On a rolling 12-month basis, from November 2024 through October 2025, electricity generated from coal was up about 11% over the comparable year-earlier 12-month period: 724,055 GWh versus 652,005 GWh between November 2023 and October 2024.

Click on the image at right to see two years of U.S. electricity generated from coal over a rolling 12-month periods (November through following October).

Another EIA data source, the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), said full-year 2025 use of coal to generate electricity increased 12%, to about 417.6 million short tons from 373.3 million short tons in full-year 2024. But coal use by power plants is expected to slump for full-year 2026 and 2027, EIA predicted.

Click on the image at right to see the historic and projected use of coal to generate electricity in the U.S.

Why is Coal Power Burn Up?

There are a variety of factors driving up coal power burn in the first year of the Trump administration, including:

• Rising electric demand, in large part from data centers, cryptocurrency mines, and oil and gas production
• Relatively high natural gas prices, which made fuel switching more economic
• Coal power plant retirements, which ensured the remaining coal-fired generators were used more often
• Delays in coal power plant retirements, including orders from the Trump administration to delay planned retirements in several states
• An expectation that the current winter heating season (November 2025 through April 2026) will be colder than the comparable year-earlier heating season, which could have caused coal-fired generators to top off their coal piles

Trump's War for Coal Appears Successful, So Far

As a candidate and second-term president, Donald Trump has decried what he called the "war on coal" in the U.S. He vowed to reverse that by supporting coal and opposing renewable generation in a number of ways, including:

• Offering dozens of coal generators an automatic two-year extension on the deadline to comply with the finalized Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule. For more on that, see April 9, 2025, article - Trump Executive Order Seeks to Reverse Decline of Coal, and June 26, 2025, article - TVA Energy Future Includes New-Build Nuclear, Longer Use of Coal.
• Mandating that coal-fired power plants in several states, including Michigan, Indiana, Colorado and Washington, to stay open past their planned retirement dates, to ensure there is adequate generation capacity available to meet near-term electric demand. For more on that, see May 28, 2025, article - Federal Order Keeps 60-Year-Old Michigan Coal Plant Running, and November 20, 2025, article - Feds Extend Order to Keep Michigan Coal Plant Running.
• Proposing to ease or scrap pollution regulations for coal-fired power plants, including a plan to significantly scale back or withdraw the federal government's "endangerment finding" that carbon emissions from coal-fired generators threaten human health and therefore must be regulated for the first time. For more on that, see June 12, 2025, article - EPA Would Axe Regulation of Power Plant Emissions of Greenhouse Gases, Air Toxics.
• Hindering the construction of renewable electric generators by revoking permits for wind generation on federal waters, though that issue remains remain in litigation. For more on that, see January 14, 2026, article - Court Lets Orsted Resume U.S. Offshore Wind Project Despite Trump.

Throughout 2025, proclamations have been issued by the White House and federal agencies that seek to boost coal mining, coal-fired generation and dispatchable power generation fueled by natural gas, in partial fulfillment of the president's Day One claim that the U.S. is in an energy emergency. For more on that, see March 14, 2025, article - EPA Will Reconsider 31 Energy and Environmental Rules from Trump's Predecessors; July 16, 2025, article - U.S. Energy Secretary Heralds Reliable Fossil Fuels; and October 1, 2025, article - Three Federal Moves Aim to Boost Coal, Win the 'Artificial Intelligence Arms Race'.

To use the terms favored by the president and his supporters, Trump is waging a war for coal. And the EIA's data suggests he has won a battle in the first year of his administration.

To continue the martial analogy, while the president and his supporters may have won the coal "battle" in 2025, it is not clear they are winning the longer-term "war." The EIA STEO said full-year coal use by U.S. electric generators rose about 12% in 2025, to about 417.6 million short tons. But use of the "black rock" is projected to continue its long-term decline, to an estimated 376.5 million short tons for full-year 2026 and 372 million short tons in full-year 2027. Coal's use by U.S. electric generators peaked in 2008 at slightly more than 1 billion short tons, EIA data show.

Presently, there are no plans to build new coal-fired generation in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, according to Industrial Info Resources' Global Market Intelligence platform. However, several asset owners are exploring the construction of carbon capture, usage and sequestration (CCUS) projects to keep coal-fired generation open. Finally, there are expected to be numerous legal challenges mounted to the administration's pro-coal actions, and it may be years until final legal decisions are reached.

Key Takeaways

• Coal use by U.S. power generators is up through the first 10 months of the second Trump administration.
• There are many reasons -- political, weather, economic and operational -- for this increase.
• But longer term, the EIA expects coal use for power generation to decline for full-years 2026 and 2027.

---

About IIR News Intelligence
IIR News Intelligence is a trusted source of news for the industrial process and energy markets, powered by Industrial Info Resources' Global Market Intelligence (GMI).

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR News Intelligence) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).