Dominion, Exelon Lead Coal Retirements
There was 1,635.5 MW of coal-fired capacity that
was retired in the January-May period this year,
with the single largest part of that coming through
the March retirement of the State Line power plant
in Indiana of Dominion Resources (NYSE: D), said a
report from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration.
The report,
EIA’s Electric Power Monthly for June, breaks
down in tabular form power plant retirements by
month. There were no coal retirements in January.
In February, Duke Energy Indiana, a unit of Duke
Energy (NYSE: DUK), retired R. Gallagher Units 1 and
3, each with a summer net rating of 140 MW. Under a
consent decree with the federal government reached
in a New Source Review lawsuit, the company was
required to make a final decision by Jan. 1, 2012,
concerning whether Gallagher Units 1 and 3 would be
converted to natural gas or retired. Gallagher Units
2 and 4 are still in operation, though, and in the
utility's capacity mix for the future.
In February, the Georgia Power subsidiary of
Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) retired Jack McDonough Unit
1, with 251 MW of net summer capacity. Georgia Power
said April 30 that the second of its three 840-MW
combined-cycle generators has entered service at its
McDonough-Atkinson complex in Smyrna, Ga. Georgia
Power retired the two coal units at Plant
McDonough-Atkinson in September 2011 and in
February.
In March, Dominion’s State Line Energy LLC unit
retired the final two operating units at the State
Line plant: Unit 3 at 124.9 MW (net summer), and
Unit 4 at 209.4 MW. Dominion chose to shut the
venerable units in face of a need for major
emissions-control retrofits and a depressed power
market in the region.
In April, Duke Energy Carolinas retired Dan River
Units 1-2, each with a net summer capacity of 67 MW,
and Dan River Unit 3, with 142 MW. The retirements
at this North Carolina plant were part of a sweeping
series of coal-plant shutdowns Duke has in play in
the Carolinas to meet clean-air needs, with the
company focusing on newer, scrubber-equipped coal
plants as the survivors for the future.
In April, Public Service Co. of Colorado retired
Cherokee Unit 1, with 107 MW (net summer) of
capacity. This retirement is part of a series of
coal unit shutdowns and coal-to-gas conversions that
this Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) subsidiary has in the
works to meet a state of Colorado clean energy act
and emissions mandates. Also as part of that plan,
Cherokee Unit 2 was retired in 2011, Arapahoe Unit 3
is due to retire in 2013 and Arapahoe Unit 4 is due
to switch from coal to gas in 2013.
In April, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC,
which produces power for a U.S. Department of Energy
nuclear site in South Carolina, retired seven small
coal units at its D Area power plant in favor of new
biomass-fired facilities. Units HP-1, HP-2 and HP-3
had 9.4 MW of net summer capacity apiece, while
units LP-1, LP-2, LP-3 and LP-4 had 12.5 MW of
capacity each.
In May, Exelon Power retired Eddystone Unit 2, in
Pennsylvania, with 309 MW of net summer capacity.
This was the last phase of a long-running program by
Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) to shut four coal- and
oil-fired units at its Cromby and Eddystone plants
in Pennsylvania to meet clean-air needs and to
position the company for a cleaner-emitting future
with its nuclear and gas-fired facilities. In May
2011, Cromby Unit 1 and Eddystone Unit 1 were
retired. Cromby Unit 2 was retired in December 2011.
EIA reported that 5,627.1 MW of new generating
capacity went into operation in the January-May
period, none of it coal-fired. The total of all
power plant retirements during the January-May
period was 2,776.7 MW (with 1,635.5 MW of it coal),
which means that the level of total new capacity
added in the period was way more than the level of
retirements on a capacity basis. But, it is worthy
of note that much of the new capacity was wind and
solar, plus some gas-fired peaking capacity, which
only generate power some of the time, while coal
plants generally can run at baseload, though a lot
of the retired coal units probably weren’t operated
at baseload in their final days.
Some of this is in the timing, since the new Prairie
State coal plant in Illinois is not in the
January-May report, but the first of its two 800-MW
units started operating on June 6, with the second
unit due for operation late this year. Also, Duke
Energy Indiana's 618-MW Edwardsport coal
gasification unit is in its final construction days
and will possibly begin officially operating late
this year.
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