The smallest, oldest coal plants have been the first to go. (credit: US EIA)
In the US, electricity demand is growing very slowly, which means that capacity additions don't have to exceed retirements by much in order to keep the grid functioning. Tracking the comings and goings from the electric grid can help provide a picture of the country's changing energy mix.
We recently discussed the planned generating additions for 2016, which were dominated by renewables and natural gas; no new coal plants were expected. It appears that 2015's retirements were the mirror image.
The Energy Information Administration, which provides data on the US' electric grid, says 18GW of capacity were retired this past year, more than 80 percent of it coal-fired. More than 27GW of utility-scale projects will replace that this year. Note that much of the new generating hardware is wind and solar, which typically have a capacity factor in the area of 30 percent, while the plants they are replacing could have a capacity factor that's much higher, so it's not easy to have a direct comparison between the two.
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