AEP to shut six US coal-fired power plants by the end of May
Houston (Platts)--23Mar2015/520 pm EDT/2120 GMT
American Electric Power will shut six coal-fired power plants by the
end of May across four Appalachian states, with four more retirements
set for this year, a utility official said Monday.
Tammy Ridout, AEP's manager of media relations, said AEP sent Worker
Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN, notices on March 16
to employees at the Kanawha River, Philip Sporn and Kammer plants in
West Virginia; the Glen Lyn plant in Virginia; the Muskingum River plant
in Ohio; and the Tanners Creek plant in Indiana, which said those
facilities will cease operations by May 31.
The closings, Ridout said, are part of the utility's compliance plan for
new US Environmental Protection Agency regulations, primarily the
Mercury and Air Toxics Standard rule that begins in June.
Because AEP said in 2011 it planned to close 14 plants in the years to
come, including the six slated to cease generation by June, Ridout said
the utility has made plans to "get rid of as much coal as possible" in
the retiring plants' stockpiles.
She could not confirm if any or how much of the coal stockpiles at
the six retiring facilities would remain after generation stops, or if
the utility had plans for any remaining coal that is not burned.
Other coal-fired plants on the AEP's list to retire this year are Clinch
River, Unit 3, in Virginia; Big Sandy, Unit 2, in Kentucky; and the
Beckjord Generating Station and Picway, Unit 5, in Ohio. Announced 2016
retirements include Northeastern Station, Unit 4, in Oklahoma, and
Welsh, Unit 2, in Texas.
The 12 coal-fired plants scheduled for retirements by the end of 2016
combined generate 6,586 MW.
In 2012, AEP retired the Philip Sporn Plant, Unit 5, in New Haven, West
Virginia, and the Conesville Plant, Unit 3, in Conesville, Ohio.
AEP said in a statement that it has spent more than $7 billion on
compliance from 1990 through 2011 to reduce emissions from coal-fueled
plants and it estimates the cost of complying with new regulations will
be an additional $3 billion to $3.5 billion between 2013 and 2020.
--Jim Levesque,
jim.levesque@platts.com
--Edited by Annie Siebert,
ann.siebert@platts.com
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