Southern Company's subsidiary Alabama Power has announced that it will retire the remaining operating units (1,167 MW) at the Gorgas coal-fired power plant (Alabama, United States) in April 2019 due to government regulations on the handling of coal ash and wastewater. It estimates that complying with the latest federally driven environmental mandates would cost the company an estimated US$300m. Alabama Power is also concerned that more regulations that could require additional costly investments are on the horizon. Therefore, it has decided not to continue operating the remaining three coal-fired generating units (units 8, 9 and 10), which were commissioned between 1956 and 1972.
The plant is located on the banks of the Black Warrior River near the town of Parrish. It started commercial operations in 1917 and has been providing electricity to Alabama Power's customers since then. In 2015, cost pressures have caused the company to retire two units with an installed capacity of 125 MW each.
After Gorgas' last units are decommissioned, Alabama Power will be operating 6 coal-fired generating units at the Barry and James H. Miller power plants, down from 23 coal-fired units at its peak. The company is gradually reducing its coal capacity by retiring units or converting them to run on natural gas.