Sunbury to Shutter Five Coal Units, Make Switch to Gas

Pennsylvania’s Sunbury Generation, a company that owns the Shamokin Dam plant—the nation’s oldest coal-fired power plant—last week reportedly said it would close five of its six coal-fired generation units and replace them with two natural gas–fired turbines by 2015. The company cited stricter regulations on power plant emissions.

The company plans to convert the 430-MW, 1949-built plant by 2015, though it admits the project will need financing. A gas pipeline to connect to a larger interstate pipeline in the Williamsport area is also in the planning stages. The conversion is expected to allow Sunbury Generation to work on providing additional power for customers out of the PJM Interconnection.

Sources: POWERnews, NASDAQ