Unprecedented number of US coal-fired power stations to be shut down in 2012

US @ENERGY plans fr shut down coal industry will affect 57 pwr stations in 2012 as per Energy Info. Admin. (EIA)

The Obama Administration continues to move forward with plans to completely shut down the American coal industry, as a record 57 coal-fired power stations are slated for shutdown in 2012. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 175 coal-fired generators that collectively represent a whopping 27 gigawatts (GW) worth of electricity-generating capacity are set to retire between 2012 and 2016. A significant uptick from previous years, this high number of shutdowns represents 8.5 percent of the total coal-fired generating capacity during 2011. It also represents a 400 percent increase in shutdowns compared to the amount that occurred during the previous five-year period, when only 6.5 GW worth of coal-fired generating capacity was nixed from operation. Based on the data, the bulk of these 175 plant shutdowns is set to occur in 2015, when 61 plants generat...

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