AEP to Shut Down Seven Coal-Fired Power Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio) will shut down seven coal-fired power plants by the end of May. Two others are being converted to run on natural gas.

The actions are a follow-through on plans announced in 2011 and updated since then, necessitated in part by federal clean-air rules.

In Ohio, AEP will close the Muskingum River plant in Washington County, with a capacity of 1,440 megawatts (MW) and the Picway plant south of Columbus, with a capacity of 100 MW.

AEP has issued layoff notices for more than 250 employees at six of the plants. Since the announcement of the closings four years ago, AEP said it has worked to place as many affected employees as possible in other positions. Many have other jobs within the company that are being held for them. The remaining workers will be offered severance packages; many of those employees have reached retirement age.

Outside of Ohio, the following AEP plants will close by the end of May: the Sporn, Kammer, and Kanawha River plants in West Virginia; the Tanners Creek plant in Indiana; and the Glen Lyn plant in Virginia.

In addition, two plants, Big Sandy in Kentucky and Clinch River in Virginia, are shutting down their coal-burning systems and converting them to burn natural gas.

The nine plants have about 6,000 MW of capacity, which is 16% of AEP's total capacity.

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