Two coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and a coal unit at the Cardinal facility in Ohio will retire by the end of 2028 to comply with federal wastewater rules.
The operator of the Conemaugh and Keystone generating stations in Pennsylvania, which are co-owned by Talen Energy and a group of investors, told the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that it intends to close the facilities by 31 December 2028, citing the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) effluent limitations guidelines and standards.
Each plant has two coal-fired units with a combined nameplate generating capacity of 1,872MW. From January-August, the Conemaugh plant consumed 2.7mn short tons (2.4mn metric tonnes) of coal, while the Keystone plant used 2.5mn st, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
The facilities received only a fraction of the coal they burned, the EIA data show. The Conemaugh plant took 265,666st of coal in the first eight months of 2021. In the same period, the Keystone facility received 361,310st. Iron Senergy and Alliance Resource Partners supplied the coal to each plant, according to EIA.
Also last month, Cardinal Operating notified the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that it will close unit 1 or unit 3 of the Cardinal plant by 31 December 2028. Unit 1 is owned by American Electric Power and units 2 and 3 are owned by Buckeye Power.
Cardinal is conducting studies to determine the most efficient configuration for a two-unit operation. By 13 October 2022, Cardinal will identify which unit it intends to retire.
The company has notified the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as well of its plan to retire a unit at the plant. Cardinal laid out a preliminary timeline to comply with the effluent rule for the two units that will continue to operate.
Units 1 and 3 at the plant have a nameplate capacity of 615MW and 650MW, respectively. The facility uses Northern Appalachian coal. It took 2.4mn st of coal and consumed 2.8mn st in the first eight months of this year, EIA data show. Units 1 used 990,605st and unit 3 1.1mn st.
The Cardinal, Conemaugh and Keystone plants are among a number of coal-fired facilities that expect to retire this decade because of the stricter wastewater guidelines. Southern Company announced recently that it plans to retire more than half of its coal-fired capacity by the end of 2028.
Companies were required to notify state regulators last month if they do not plan on making plant upgrades to comply with the effluent rule. Those that gave notice can keep the coal units operating until the end of 2028.
It is unclear exactly how many coal-fired units will close because of the rule. Environmental group Sierra Club has been tracking state regulatory filings, which show more than 20 facilities either shutting down or potentially converting coal units to burn natural gas by the end of 2028.
Plant owners have previously announced most of the planned closures. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), for example, announced earlier this year that it plans to phase out coal-fired generation by 2035. The utility told state regulators in October that it plans to retire three units at the Kingston plant as early as 2026 and the remaining six units as early as 2027. TVA also mentioned that it expects to retire one unit at the Cumberland plant as early as 2026 and the other as early as 2028.
