American Electric Power (AEP) has agreed to close three coal-fired power units by 2015, as part of a settlement with government officials and environmental groups. AEP will stop the fourth unit (500 MW) at Tanners Creek power plant (Indiana), the 585 MW Muskingum River - Unit 5 (Ohio) and the 800 MW Big Sandy - Unit 2 (Kentucky). Part of the capacity will be replaced with new wind and solar plants in Indiana and Michigan. Pollution controls worth US$5bn will be installed, in order to cut AEP's SOx emissions over the next 12 years from 828,000 tons to 174,000 tons.
The company had previously stated it intended to close the coal-fired units or convert them to other fuels.
American Electric Power is one of the largest power utilities in the United States, with nearly 38 GW of installed capacity, nearly 39,000-mile of electricity network and more than 5 million customers in 11 states.
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