The US utility Vistra Energy announced that its subsidiary Luminant will shut down two coal-fired power plants in Central Texas (US) with a combined capacity of 2,300 MW; namely the 1,137 MW Sandow Power Plant (Milam County) and the 1,150 MW Big Brown Power Plant (Freestone County). Vistra Energy reported that key drivers behind the decision are the low wholesale power prices, an oversupplied power generation market, low natural gas prices and the development of renewable energy which puts pressure on ageing coal-fired power plants.
The Sandow plant has two units, one built in 1981, and the other in 2009. The Big Brown plant also has two units, which were respectively brought online in 1971 and 1972. Both facilities are lignite-fired and are scheduled for shutdown in early 2018.
This decision comes only a few days after Luminant unveiled plans to shut down the 1,880 MW Monticello coal-fired power plant (Titus county, Texas, US) by January 2018 after more than 40 years of operations.
Vistra Energy is a Texas-based energy utility with a power generation capacity of around 18 GW in Texas, of which 2,300 MW fuelled by nuclear power, 8,000 of coal-fired and 7,500 MW of gas-powered facilities.
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