FirstEnergy on October 18 said its coal-fired Pleasants Power Station in West Virginia will stay open until June 2022, after earlier announcing the plant would close in January of next year.

FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said, “Keeping Pleasants in operation … allows the plant to fulfill current capacity obligations and provides additional time for evaluation of the long-term plan for the station prior to deactivation.”

The plant is operated by Allegheny Energy Supply (AES), a FirstEnergy subsidiary. Pushing back the closing date allows Pleasants Power to remain in operation until the transfer of the facility from AES to FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) is complete. The transfer is part of FirstEnergy’s bankruptcy settlement agreement with FES and the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), Young said.

FirstEnergy in February of this year said it would close the 1.3-GW Pleasants Power Station by January 1, 2019. The company has been suffering steep losses in competitive markets. It announced a plan in November 2016 to exit competitive generation and become a fully regulated company.…

Read More »