General Discussion

The moves by the Trump administration do little to improve the economics of coal compared to other generating resources, according to Rob Gramlich, CEO of Grid Strategies. “Natural gas fracking killed coal power in the US and neither this nor any previous administration is banning fracking,” Gramlich said on social media.

“I don’t think these orders change the facts that coal-fired power plants are old, expensive to run, and unlikely to operate very often or for many more years,” Gramlich said.

Also, there is no evidence that any company is considering building a new coal-fired power plant or that supply chains or manufacturing could support it, Gramlich said.

Nearly all U.S. coal-fired power plants are more expensive to run than new, local wind, solar and energy storage resources, according to a January 2023 report from Energy Innovation.