The company running a coal-fired power plant in Dickerson says it will be shut down.
GenOn Holdings said in a press release on Friday that it has started the process to “retire” the three generating units at the site.
Together, their capacity is about 540 megawatts of electricity, the company said. One megawatt is considered enough to power several hundred homes for a year.
A GenOn press release says the three coal units started up in 1959, 1960 and 1962, respectively.
“The decision to initiate the retirement of the Dickerson coal units is driven by unfavorable economic conditions and increased costs associated with environmental compliance,” GenOn’s press release says.
Under the federal Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, GenOn filed a notice on Tuesday that up to 63 employees could lose their jobs as of Aug. 1 because of the closure.
GenOn’s press release says the deactivation of the coal-fired units first requires a 90-day review by PJM Interconnection, an organization that coordinates electricity throughout several states.
Then, the company will start the deactivation process and its plan for cutting the work force there, the press release says. Employees will get severance packages.
GenOn said it will continue its natural gas and oil-fired generating operations in Dickerson.
