Coal: An Important Fuel for Future Electricity Generation

Coal remains important and new coal plants are needed. Here are a dozen reasons:

1. The growth of new electricity generation capacity is projected to be 100 GW by 2030 and 800 GW by 2050

2. With de-regulation, no Utility is held accountable for expanding growth of Dispatchable generation as Regional Utilities did in the 1970’s. 

3. In the 1970’s a senior utility generation engineer at CP&L referred to gas turbines as “Monuments to poor planning”, because they could be built quickly to provide capacity when growth was 5-10%/year in the 1970’s. I see that happening again, CCGT are the default generation capacity

4. Committing to gas fuel is committing to dependence on a volatile costing fuel. The Iran war will be a wakeup call in December if not sooner for gas prices. Natural gas prices are very volatile, whereas coal prices have been stable for decades

5. The demand for Gas turbines, while efficient and with the shortest path to building new Dispatchable Bulk Power Supply, is outstripping the manufacturing supply chain. Five plus years lead time is reported

6. From a Primary Energy viewpoint, Flow Charts. In 2008 coal provided about 20% of total primary energy. In 2025 coal’s contribution dropped to about 10%. Infrastructure to expand coal to a billion tons/year or 20 quadrillion BTU is still possible in the U.S.

7. Both new coal and new nuclear are strangled by Federal regulations. Trump has the right approach BUT….the enormous needs of new generation are NOT getting built. Keeping in mind the 100 GW and 800 GW numbers of needed dispatchable generation

8. So…when industry needs power at a reasonable price, Where will they get it? In S.C. Nucor plans their own nuclear plant by 2030. However, I suspect it will not be built in time and the more gas turbines will be built to provide industrial power

a.   Power Engineering on NUCOR Fusion Power Supply 500 MW: https://www.power-eng.com/nuclear/historic-500-mw-fusion-power-plant-would-power-steelmaking-facility/

b.  NUCOR MOU with Helion Fusion: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/09/helion-energy-partners-with-nucor-steel-for-500mw-nuclear-fusion-power-plant-in-2030.html 

9. National security is at risk with ever increasing dependence on gas pipeline supplied fuel. Currently about 43% of America’s electricity is generated by “Just in Time” pipeline provided gas fuel. I feel that a better balanced Bulk Power Supply is better, say 30% gas, 30% nuclear and 30% coal based on 90% of summer and winter peak loads as Dispatchable Power.

10. Coal plants remain basically outlawed until the “EPA-Endangerment Finding” is vacated or otherwise repealed. No Utility exec will invest in new coal plants until the EPA federal regulations are vacated or otherwise repealed. Trump and Zeldin did their part, now the challenge is to work through Lawfare of NGOs, corrupt judges, Blue cities and states.

11. Nuclear seems stalled, despite President Trump’s pro-nuclear policies. The new nuclear plants in progress are SMRs or research projects, not proven major Bulk Power Producers such as nuclear Plant Vogtle in Georgia. Various bills are stalled in Congress. Planned is Megawatt sized projects, needed are Gigawatt sized new pants.

12. Dick Storm and Don Spellman blog article to summarize the concerns listed above: Musings of a Coal Power engineer and a Nuclear engineer, June 2026: https://powerfortheusa.com/?p=9982

Dick Storm, Sept. 15, 2026

References:

1. Power for the U.S.A. Reality of Building 32,000 MW each year: https://powerfortheusa.com/2025/10/22/reality-of-32000-mw-year-of-new-generation-demand-solution-build-new-coal-plants-now/
2. FIVE REASONS TO BUILD NEW COAL PLANTS NOW! COAL SHOULD BE INCLUDED AS A CRITICAL FUEL TO POWER AMERICA’S FUTURE, SEPT. 24, 2025:  HTTPS://DICKSTORMPROBIZBLOG.ORG/2025/09/24/FIVE-REASONS-TO-BUILD-NEW-COAL-PLANTS-NOW-COAL-SHOULD-BE-INCLUDED-AS-A-CRITICAL-FUEL-TO-POWER-AMERICAS-FUTURE/
3. Energy is the Economy and Electricity is the Life-Blood of western civilization Coal Can Make America’s Electricity Supply Great Again  https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2025/07/30/energy-is-the-economy-electricity-is-the-life-blood-of-western-civilization-coal-can-make-americas-electricity-supply-great-again/
4. Thomas J. Shepstone published version of Dick Storm blog post on the “Madness of the Self-Inflicted Electricity Generation Crisis” https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-madness-of-the-us-self-inflicted?r=kv1a9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
5. Pros and Cons of Conventional and Renewables in the Red State of S.C. Part 1:     https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2026/03/11/pros-and-cons-of-conventional-and-renewables-electricity-generation-in-the-red-state-of-south-carolina-part-1/
6. Pros and Cons of Conventional and Renewables in the Red State of S.C., Part 2: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2026/03/17/pros-and-cons-of-renewable-and-conventional-electricity-generation-in-the-red-state-of-s-c-part-2/