Utility coal consumption falls to 35 year low

From Reuters:

Electric power producers’ coal consumption fell to 298 million short tons in the first half of 2018, down from 312 million in the same period in 2017, marginally below 2016, and the lowest since 1983.

U.S. power producers generated almost 6 percent less electricity from coal in the first half of the year even as total generation rose almost 5 percent and gas-fired generation was up 17 percent.

Coal-fired generation declined by 32 billion kilowatt hours in the first six months, while gas-fired generation rose by 89 billion, nuclear was up by 16 billion, solar rose 7 billion and wind was up by 15 billion.

Generators continued to close coal units, with coal-fired generating capacity down to 246 gigawatts at the end of June 2018, compared with 262 gigawatts in June 2017 and 273 gigawatts in June 2016.

Remaining coal units are being run for fewer hours and/or at lower rates than last year, another indication they are struggling to compete with cheap natural gas.

Most coal-fired power plants still in operation were commissioned in the 1970s and 1980s, when surging oil prices caused a shift from oil-fired to coal-fired generation.

Most are now 35-50 years old and as a result of corrosion and fatigue require expensive replacements of steam generators and other large pieces of equipment.

Aging power plants also suffer from rising operation and maintenance costs, increased outages, reduced reliability and reduced thermal efficiency.

It's pretty obvious what the fate of (thermal) coal is, isn't it?  Gas is more flexible, cleaner and produces half the emissions.  Wind and solar are cheaper and keep on getting cheaper still.  And this is now true almost everywhere.

Chart only to end 2016.  Since then total consumption  has fallen below the 0.6 billion tons mark.