US President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders to “reinvigorate” the country’s coal sector to meet the surging energy demand of AI data centers.
Executive Order 14241 aims to remove “Federal regulatory barriers that undermine coal production, encouraging the utilization of coal to meet growing domestic energy demands, increasing American coal exports, and ensuring that Federal policy does not discriminate against coal production or coal-fired electricity generation.”
The order will permit several older coal-fired plants slated for retirement to continue generating power for the foreseeable future to meet the growth of demand from AI.
Several utilities have already extended the life of their coal-fired plants in recent months, citing data center demand as a major driver. A recent example is Southern Company, which in February announced its intention to extend the life of three plants with a combined capacity of 8.2GW from 2028 to 2035.
The new executive order will likely spur more utilities to seek an extension, especially in data center hotspots.
The order also directs federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift regulatory barriers to coal mining, and prioritize coal leasing on US federal lands.
In addition, the President also signed an order that provides coal-fired plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals.
Dubbed as a “national priority” to meet the growth of manufacturing and data centers, the support for coal is in sharp contrast to the fuel's steady decline over the past 25 years. The fuel share in the US energy mix has fallen to around 15 percent, compared with 2001 levels where it generated 51 percent of the US’ energy.
In addition, other forms of energy have usurped coal as a cheaper and more efficient alternative. Low-cost natural gas derived from shale deposits has begun to dominate the energy mix and is seen as a more scalable option for data center developers.
In addition, despite the current administration's actions in stripping away federal support for renewable resources, wind and solar now generate more electricity than coal across the US, according to a recent report from think tank Ember. Solar generation across the US increased by 64TWh, wind 32TWh, while coal dropped by 22TWh.
Solar power has also become a cheaper alternative to coal in recent years. In 2023, research from Energy Innovation indicated that 99 percent of existing US coal plants are more expensive to run than new solar or wind power, with solar at least 30 percent cheaper on average.
Despite this, the current US administration seems intent on its continual support of the fossil fuel sector as the solution to the projected rise in data center power demand. In his first few days in office, President Trump declared a “national energy emergency,” signed orders promoting oil and gas development in Alaska, suspended wind leasing on the US Outer Continental Shelf, and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement.
The reinvigoration of the coal sector will lead to significantly more emissions, with coal being the dirtiest form of energy currently available. Compared to natural gas, coal releases up to twice as much CO2 and is much more inefficient, requiring significantly more fuel to generate the same amount of electricity.
