By Frank Clemente and Fred Palmer; Coal is the Cornerstone LLC.

May 24, 2025 - Note: This is Part 1 of a two-part piece on the role coal must play if Artificial Intelligence and its associated data centers can be built to the extent projected. Part 1 discusses the growing need for coal to provide much of the massive amount of electricity required on a 24/7 basis. Part 2 demonstrates that alternative sources of power will be limited in their ability to meet the burgeoning demand from not only data centers but also from the societal push for electrification. Homework for tomorrow: Stop closing coal power plants.

Companies planning the new wave of Data Centers are about to be hit with a hard dose of electricity reality -- they cannot proceed at scale without more coal-based generation. President Trump was correct in issuing an Executive Order directing his Cabinet to identify coal-powered infrastructure that could support AI data centers and meet the energy needs of technology firms. More and larger data centers will place unprecedented demand on the US power system.  The Berkeley National Laboratory found that America’s data centers consumed a little more than 4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023, but by 2028 they could consume 12% - and only the beginning of AI demand that is expected to grow for decades.

With the rise of such data centers, in conjunction with electric vehicles, heat pumps, electrolyzers, air conditioners, cryptocurrency, etcetera and etcetera, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects power generation to increase from about 4,175 Terawatt Hours (TWh) in 2025 to over 5,600 TWh in 2044. This rise of over 1,400 TWh in the next 20 years is more than six times the growth in power generation over the 20-year period 2004 to 2023. To give a further idea of scale, this increase alone exceeds  the current electricity generation of Germany, France and the UK combined.

Where will the US get the energy required to meet this dramatic increase in electricity demand over the next two decades? The US has already dug itself into a hole by cavalierly closing over 300 coal power plants since 2010 and reducing coal’s generation from a national 45% to 16%. The underlying reasons for this closure of plants have been aggressive and well-funded political activism, overzealous policy makers and ill-conceived Renewable Portfolio Standards. 

As a result, the US is steadily developing an electric power system that will be increasingly expensive, less reliable and a risk to national security. Warnings from the National Electric Reliability Council (NERC), decrying the continuing closure of still productive coal power plants, have gone unheeded. Just last December NERC stated:

“Additional coal-fired generator retirements… have caused a sharp decline in anticipated resources beginning next summer (2025) … new generation is insufficient to make up for generator retirements and load growth”

This concern has been echoed by Chris Wright, US Secretary of Energy: "If we want to grow America's electricity production meaningfully… we have to stop closing coal plants”

Data centers are the backbone of the digital world, powering everything from social media to cloud computing. AI will bring substantial socioeconomic benefits to  regions, states and countries that have reliable and affordable electricity to support its operation. The US has a substantial lead in data center development, but China and India are building out their coal generation and this baseload power will do much to attract data centers at the international level. China’s aggressive stance on capturing AI opportunities is well documented, and the Government of India is taking steps to make that nation’s rapidly expanding data center market a global hub.

Unless the US is willing to ceeb a large part of the future AI field to other countries, policies which assure reliable and affordable electricity need to be at the forefront of America’s energy planning. But no sooner had President Trump’s several initiatives on coal been publicized than the knee-jerk reactions from the usual suspects appeared before the ink dried on the Executive Orders. The Washington Post said: “Trump gave the dying coal industry a lifeline. ABC News: “Trump wants ‘clean coal’ but there’s no such thing”.  Reuters: “Trump Administration plans to give dirty US coal plants a reprieve”.  And the ever reliable Sierra Club: “We want to close all US coal plants”

That the battle lines were drawn before the critics even had a chance to examine what the President was proposing shows their goals are more concerned about thwarting Trump and stopping coal than they are about bringing reliable and affordable electricity to the American people. 

Part 2 will further delineate the importance of coal to AI and the data center buildout and the constraints rapidly emerging for alternate fuels.

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Note: Coal is the Cornerstone seeks to give a voice to supporters of coal in its many dimensions and contributions. But we need help and ask like-minded individuals and companies supporting coal to make a financial contribution to the effort. Please contact Fred Palmer (

vapalmers@aol.com) for details as to how you can support the fight for coal

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Frank Clemente PhD Is Professor Emeritus at Penn State University. He specializes in research on the socioeconomic impact of energy policy and is the author of The Global Value of Coal, published by the International Energy Agency (2012). Professor Clemente has extensive experience in speaking, writing and presenting data on the value of coal to the United States and the world. All opinions expressed here are presented independently from the University.

Fred Palmer served as CEO of Western Fuels before he joined Peabody Energy as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs. Palmer was Chair of the World Coal Association Board and a member of the National Coal Council. He received the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers Award for “Distinguished Achievement in Coal Technology”.  He also received a Statement of Appreciation from the National Coal Council in 2015 with a plaque for “Guidance since 1990”.