2 December 2009-- Exelon Power said it plans to retire two coal-fired units and shut down a plant, all in Pennsylvania, starting in 2011.

The company said the 345 MW Cromby Generating Station and Units 1 and 2 at Eddystone Generating Station would be shut down. After the retirements, Eddystone will continue to operate 820 MW of generating capacity.

Cromby Unit 1 is a 144 MW coal-fired unit and Unit 2 is a 201 MW unit that operates on either natural gas or No. 6 fuel oil. Both units will be retired, ultimately shutting down the entire plant. Eddystone is losing 588 MW of capacity.

"Decreased power demand, over supply of natural gas and increasing operating costs, has led Exelon Power to retire these units," said Doyle Beneby, senior vice president of Exelon Power.

"Only the most efficient and lowest cost units can consistently compete in the wholesale markets. Unfortunately, these aging units are no longer efficient enough to compete with newer resources," said Beneby. "These units faced a difficult year economically in 2009 and we expect the forces that contributed to the difficulties to continue for an extended period of time. Those forces include increasing capital expenditures and decreased demand for electricity."

Cromby Generating Station is on the Schuylkill River in Phoenixville, Pa. Cromby Unit 1 and Unit 2 were placed in service in 1954 and 1955, respectively. Unit 1 is a 144 MW coal-fired unit. Unit 2 is a 201 MW unit that operates on either natural gas or No. 6 fuel oil.

Eddystone Generating Station is on the Delaware River in Eddystone, Pa. Unit 1 is a 279 MW coal-fired unit and Unit 2 is a 309 MW coal-fired unit. Both were placed in service in 1960. Two 380 MW peaking units that run on either natural gas or oil and four oil-burning units that produce a total of 60 MW will continue to be available for operation.

The PJM Interconnection said it will see if the shutdowns will create reliability issues.
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