Since 2011, 103 coal-fired power plants have been converted to or replaced by natural gas-fired plants, according OilPrice.com. At least 49.2GW of the 316.8GW of the United State’s coal-fired power plants have been replaced or converted due to the declining price and increasing abundance of natural gas in the last decade.
According to the Energy Information Administration, this trend is set to continue. In 2019, U.S. coal production hit its lowest level since 1978, while coal consumption dropped to the lowest since 1975.