Kayah Swanson, kayah.swanson@sierraclub.org
Tom Schuster, tom.schuster@sierraclub.org
HOMER CITY, PA. - The Homer City Generating Station has announced its intention to stop burning coal and begin decommissioning on July 1, 2023. The 2000 MW plant has been struggling to compete economically for years, having operated at less than half capacity every year since 2015, and at only 20% of capacity in 2022. This announcement triggers a reliability assessment by grid operator PJM Inc., which will determine whether any transmission upgrades or operational changes will be necessary to ensure reliability of electric supply after the plant retires.
This announcement is especially notable because Homer City is the largest remaining coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania. Until now, it was the only coal-fired plant that had not announced plans to retire or stop burning coal by a certain date (with the exception of a fleet of small, heavily subsidized plants that burn coal refuse left by abandoned mines).
The Homer City plant has been fighting Pennsylvania’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which would impose limits on climate-disrupting carbon dioxide pollution from power plants. However, RGGI implementation is on hold as an appeal works through the courts, so no plant has to comply unless and until it is upheld. The announcement cited a litany of other factors, including high coal prices and increasingly warm winters that drive down energy demand.
In response, Tom Schuster, Director of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, issued the following statement:
Homer City’s operators have been hinting at its retirement for years, as the power plant clearly has been unable to compete with emerging energy sources. In fact, 99% of existing coal in the country is now more expensive to operate than installing new solar or wind. Increasing costs of compliance with Congressionally mandated, life-saving air and water protections are just more evidence that coal cannot be both cheap and clean, and that its long running decline is driven by obsolescence and will continue with or without RGGI (which remains on hold due to court challenges).
To be sure, an abrupt closure of this plant would cause local economic disruption, as it has in other communities where plants have closed. This is actually where RGGI could help immensely. Had we been full participants last year, Pennsylvania would have taken in over $800 million dollars, which would have been invested in projects to clean our air—but we have advocated for more flexibility so this money can also directly support economic transition in power plant host communities. It is now more urgent than ever that Pennsylvania create an Energy Communities Trust Fund, similar to that envisioned by Senate Bill 15 from the last legislative session.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.