Good news for the planet: The General James M. Gavin power plant in Ohio, one of the nation's largest coal-fired power plants, is slated to close or convert to a cleaner fuel source by 2031, Inside Climate News reported. The 50-year-old Gavin plant along the Ohio River was once the United States' largest emitter of sulfur dioxide, a pollutant linked to acid rain and respiratory issues.
The plan will likely be finalized following the pending acquisition of Lightstone Holdco, the plant's current owner, by Energy Capital Partners, an investment firm committed to energy innovation, a source told Inside Climate News. Plans may be subject to change if the plant finds it can't meet the energy demand with renewable energy sources.
Still, this decision "highlights the dimming economic prospects of coal-fired power in the U.S," Brendan Pierpont, director of electricity modeling at the think tank Energy Innovation, told the news outlet. He added that plant owners "acting in the interest of their customers" would do the same thing.
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The closure or conversion of the Gavin plant marks a win for the transition to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, which are steadily capturing larger shares of the electricity market.
Replacing coal with cleaner alternatives will lower carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. It would also reduce the amount of hazardous pollutants released into the atmosphere, cleaning the air and improving the overall quality of life for surrounding communities.
The Ohio coal plant joins a growing list of dirty fuel facilities globally that announced plans to cease operations this year. The Merrimack and Schiller coal plants in New Hampshire will shut down in the next three years and be turned into solar farms and battery capacity for offshore wind turbines. The U.K. shuttered its last standing coal plant earlier this year.
As Pierpont put it: "Plans to stop burning coal at plants like Gavin show that cleaner, more cost-effective energy solutions are the future."
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