US generators are starting this year with more coal-fired power plants open than previously planned, following a series of US Department of Energy (DOE) emergency orders, but maintaining generation from these facilities might not be easy.
Since late May, US energy secretary Chris Wright has signed orders to keep at least parts of five coal plants running beyond their planned 2025 retirement dates. These facilities have a combined generating capacity of 2,128MW.
Wright also has indicated he may continue issuing such orders to address near-term reliability issues and potential energy supply shortages in the next few years.
While some power plant operators may welcome the orders, others are more reticent.
"I think the executive orders make for lots of questions in our current environment," one market participant said. "As with anything, there are lots of legal challenges that will arise, and it all could change again in a few years" under a new administration.
The nature of the orders also raises logistical concerns that some power plant operators warned could affect their ability to comply. Last year, Wright issued the orders shortly before the facilities were scheduled to close. That kind of timetable can be challenging for plant operators who typically have spent months winding down fuel orders and making other preparations to permanently close a facility.
The orders also have 90-day limits that can be extended, and Wright has not shied away from renewing directives to keep plants operating.
Several coal plants that were either scheduled to close recently or are slated to be retired in the near future have not received adequate maintenance and upgrades in the last few years that would allow them to keep running sustainably long-term, one operator told Argus. That suggests operators could face higher rates of unexpected coal unit outages this year or more frequent planned outages as companies catch up on maintenance.
For example, unit 1 of the Craig Station coal plant in Colorado, the most recent unit ordered to stay on line for another 90 days, has been out of service since 19 December, following a mechanical failure of a valve. The plant will need repairs and additional investments to continue running into 2026, Tri-State Generation & Transmission — one of the co-owners of the plant — said on 31 December.
Some of the utilities that have received emergency orders to keep coal plants open also warned that delaying the facilities' closures could interfere with previous energy transition plans and investments.
But Indiana utility NiSource, which received an order to keep its RM Schahfer coal plant on line until at least 23 March 2026, said "our long-term plan to transition to a more sustainable energy future remains unchanged".
Other utilities also remain committed to transitioning from coal-fired generation. One operator said the recent emergency orders have merely put the coal industry on "life-support", rather than providing a substantial lifeline beyond the next few years.
Many other coal market participants asserted that DOE's orders only require the plants to remain available during their extension periods and, at least so far, have not specified a minimum capacity factor at which they must run. Most of the plants operating in compliance with the emergency orders may just run as peaker plants, only operating at maximum capacity during extreme periods of generation demand.
Still, the prospect of keeping the facilities open for an unknown period of time can be a challenge for planning fuel purchases. While some plants that received a DOE order still have a small quantity of coal stockpiled on site, those volumes will only sustain a few more weeks of coal burn, necessitating additional shipments. Other utilities are faced with buying more coal and deciding whether to purchase enough for just the extent of existing orders or to enter into longer-term agreements.
Some operators have already opted into multi-year deals because they expect DOE's emergency orders on their plants will keep getting renewed well into the back half of this decade. Many utilities, especially by the end of 2025, found pricing in longer-term purchases to be more stable and economical because constrained supply in most US basins had prompted producers to offer spot coal at higher prices.
Tight US coal supply also has led producers to be less willing to agree to options in newer coal contracts that would allow buyers to opt out of taking all of their volume commitments. Because of this, some utilities that have received orders from DOE have limited their additional coal purchases to deliveries only in 2026. Some utilities also said that they can not justify issuing longer-term requests for proposals to state regulators and ratepayers, since the DOE orders are only issued for 90 days.
The US House of Representatives in mid-December passed a bill that aims to address some utility concerns. The Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025 would authorize the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require an owner or operator to continue running a power plant for up to five more years if the commission finds that its closure could threaten grid reliability. The bill would protect plant operators from penalties for potentially violating state or federal environmental laws while FERC's order is in place. And it would authorize FERC to renew an order by another five years if requested by a transmission organizer, state commission or public utility.
The US Senate has not yet scheduled any action on the bill. And even if the measure is enacted, it will only address some of the uncertainties power plant operators face.
