Thursday, March 01, 2012YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – GenOn Energy Inc. announced Wednesday that it will close its Niles power plant in June and its New Castle, Pa., power plant in April 2015. The Houston-based company said six other plants will close over the next three years; all but one are coal-fired.
“Forecasted returns on investments necessary to comply with environmental regulations are insufficient,” GenOn said in a statement that accompanied its 2011 earnings report.
The Niles generating station sits on a 130-acre site off McKees Lane along the Mahoning River. With 217 megawatts of generating capacity, it is the smallest plant the company plans to close. The plant has two coal-fired units and an oil-fired combustion turbine, according to GenOn's website. Employment numbers were not disclosed.
A company spokesman described the Niles plant, which opened in 1954, as well as its power plant in Elrama, Pa., which will also close in June, as its least efficient and most costly to operate.
GenOn said it would deactivate a total of 3,140 megawatts of generation at the eight plants.
The company was formed in December 2010 through the merger of Mirant Corp. and RRI Energy Inc. GenOn will have 19,490 megawatts of generating capacity after closing the eight plants. Investments of $2.4 billion in environmental controls have been made at its remaining plants, the company said.
“GenOn’s strategy of hedging and maintaining adequate liquidity positions allows us to manage comfortably through the significant decline in commodity prices facing the industry today” said its chairman and CEO, Edward R. Muller.
The company reported a net loss of $189 million for 2011 compared to a net loss of 4740 million on a pro forma basis for 2010.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.