Dive Brief:
- Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) is considering shutting down four coal fired units in the next seven years, as the utility faces up to $1 billion in costs to keep the generation running, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. Closing down the plants would avoid "some of these incremental costs."
- NIPSCO said the decision is being driven in part by regulations, including new Coal Combustion Residuals rules and Effluent Limit Guidelines, that will require additional investments at each of the utility's plants with compliance dates of 2018 and 2023.
- The plan is not final, however, and will be fully considered as part of the process to develop NIPSCO's Integrated Resource Plan, due in November. The utility has been shifting away from coal-fired generation in recent years, though it currently makes up about 72% of NIPSCO's portfolio.
Dive Insight:
Officials at NIPSCO say the electric generation landscape is undergoing "dramatic" changes, with new environmental regulations making coal more expensive to operate and new technologies creating alternatives.
"Companies with aging coal-fired units are facing intense economic and environmental regulatory pressures that are driving important decisions today about how to meet the customer needs of tomorrow," NIPSCO Executive Vice President Violet Sistovaris said in a statement.
While the IRP process will unfold over the next few months, the utility said it thinks shutting down four of its seven coal-fired units will be best for customers. The utility would retire its Bailly Generating Station coal-fired units as soon as mid-2018, and two units at the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station by the end of 2023. If NIPSCO moves ahead with mothballing the Bailly Generating Station, that decision would need to be approved by the regional grid operator, Midcontinent ISO.
NIPSCO's decision follows fellow Indiana utilities Indianapolis Power and Light and Duke Energy Indiana to retire coal plants in the state and replace them with gas-fired generation.
