Reuters: Regulatory News: FirstEnergy may keep some old Ohio coal plants online

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FirstEnergy may keep some old Ohio coal plants online May 3rd 2012, 14:55 By Scott DiSavino Thu May 3, 2012 10:55am EDT May 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. power grid operator asked FirstEnergy Corp to keep running some units previously earmarked for retirement this year at three coal-fired plants in Ohio in an effort to maintain the reliability of the electric system, the company said. PJM, the grid operator for 13 U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, requested reliability-must-run arrangements for the three 132-MW units 1-3 at the Eastlake plant, the 244-MW Ashtabula 5 and 245-MW Lake Shore 18, FirstEnergy told investors after releasing its earnings this week. Officials at Ohio-based FirstEnergy were not immediately available for comment on the possible terms of the must-run contracts or when the company would be able to shut the units. FirstEnergy in January told PJM that it wanted to shut about 2,700 MW of smaller, older coal units in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, most of which entered service in the 1950s and 1960s. FirstEnergy said it wanted to retire the old plants because it did not make economic sense to upgrade the units' emissions equipment to meet more-stringent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules proposed over the past couple of years related to mercury and air toxics, among other things. FirstEnergy is not alone in shutting its small, older coal plants. Energy companies across the nation have announced the planned shutdown of more than 30,000 MW of coal-fired power plants due to the stricter environmental rules, low natural gas and power prices and weak economic and power demand growth, among other factors. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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