Four coal-fired power plants in Illinois, USA, to be closed

• 5 years ago (2019-08-22)
• David Flin

Coal 296 North America 1021

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Vistra Energy has announced that it will close four coal-fired power plants in Illinois to comply with tighter emissions requirements. The plants are in the towns of Coffeen, Canton, Havana, and Hennepin in the state’s central and southern regions.

The closures require approval from regional grid operators, which can order plants to be kept open if they are needed for reliability. If that doesn’t happen, Vistra plans to close the plants by the end of 2019.

Curt Morgan, CEO of Vistra, said: “Even though the retirement announcements were inevitable due to the changing regulatory environment and unfavourable economic conditions in the market, they are nonetheless difficult to make. By far, the hardest decisions we make in our business are those that severely impact our people.”

The Texas-based Vistra became the biggest producer of coal-fired electricity in Illinois last year when it acquired eight power plants in a merger with Dynegy.

In 2017, Vistra’s power generation subsidiary, Luminant, closed three coal-fired power plants and a mine in East and Central Texas. It cited competition from natural gas, low wholesale power prices, and an increase in renewable generation as reasons for the closures.