Approximately 4,600 megawatts (MW) of U.S. coal-fired generation has already retired this year through April and another 7,700 MW will close during the rest of 2015 as utilities work to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or MATS, which took effect last month. This year's closures represent about 4% of installed U.S. coal capacity and will make up a third of nationwide coal plant retirements between 2010 and 2015, an SNL Energy analysis showed. The pace of retirements eases in 2016, when units with one-year MATS compliance extensions finally close. Next year, nearly 7,300 MW of coal-based power will shut down. Retirements continue to taper off after that, with less than 7,000 MW slated between 2017 and 2022.
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