Across the country, utilities are shelving plans to retire coal plants.

Why? Pulling reliable, around-the-clock generation while power demand surges simply doesn't work.

This summer, three more utilities hit the brakes. Arizona Public Service says the 1,500-megawatt Four Corners coal plant, once set to close in 2031, will now run until 2038.

APS says coal remains critical to keeping electricity costs low and the lights on as the utility tries to meet exploding power demand—now set to jump 60% by 2038.

In Kentucky, Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities are extending the life of the Mill Creek coal plant, citing surging data center demand. They expect a 45% jump in demand over the next decade.

And the Tennessee Valley Authority has also tossed its 2035 coal-exit plan. AI data centers – you might be sensing a theme – are driving explosive demand growth there.

TVA sees 11 gigawatts of new demand coming, equal to adding an additional eight million homes to its service territory.

Over the past three years, utilities have delayed or cancelled the closure of more than 40 coalplants. Simply put, these plants are needed.

In fact, coal generation is already climbing—up 6% nationwide this year, and far higher in some regions.

On the MISO grid, stretching from Louisiana up through Minnesota, coal generation has been up 8 months in a row. In July, it was 17% higher from a year earlier.

And as important as the coal fleet is this summer, the power demand challenge ahead looms large.

On the PJM power grid, the nation's largest stretching from D.C. to Chicago, the grid operator expects 32 gigawatts of new demand in just the next five years—30 of which will come from data centers. That's like adding 20 million homes to the grid overnight.

As we're seeing in real time, there is no meeting this extraordinary moment without the coal fleet.