Abstract
The data are related to the research article "Structural estimation of switching costs for peaking power plants," https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2019.03.031. Fleten et al., 2019 We display the operating status of peaking power plants as they were reported annually to the United States Energy Information Administration during 2001-2009. Operating status can either be operating, on standby, or retired. Changes in operating status allow us to infer shutdowns, startups, and retirements. We also derive annual profitability indicators.