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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