Dive Brief:

• NRG Energy plans to retire two coal-fired power plants in Maryland totaling 1,200 MW, according to the Sierra Club.
• Maryland will have five coal-fired plants if NRG shutters its Chalk Point and Dickerson plants in mid-2017. The PJM Interconnection will review NRG’s retirement request to see if the plants can be reliably shut permanently.

Dive Insight:

New environmental rules are forcing power plant owners to decide if its worth installing pollution control equipment on their coal-fired power plants or shut them down. In this case, it looks like NRG has decided that the plants are not worth keeping open.

“Marylanders will benefit from the retirement of these two plants with cleaner air, lower healthcare costs, and less climate-disrupting pollution,” Michael Bloomberg, New York City mayor and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has contributed $50 million to Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. “What's more, this officially marks 30% of all the nation's coal plants announcing retirement since 2010.”