Two Montana coal plants to close in December

Citing the financial challenges the units face, Colstrip Steam Electric Station operators will close a pair of Montana coal plants on Dec. 31.

Talen Montana, which joins Puget Sound Energy as owners of Colstrip Units 1 and 2, recently revealed plans to permanently retire the units, which have a total 614-megawatt capacity rating. Colstrip’s other two units, 3 and 4, will remain in operation.

“The plant team has done a great job of responding to the challenges faced by Units 1 and 2, but we have been unsuccessful in making the units economically viable,” Dale Lebsack, Talen Montana president, said. “Fuel constitutes the bulk of our operating cost, and our repeated efforts to negotiate lower fuel prices with Westmoreland Rosebud Mining, the plant’s sole and only historically permitted fuel supplier, have been rebuffed. Rather than working with us to keep Units 1 and 2 open, Westmoreland is proposing to increase the units’ fuel cost going forward.”

Officials said Talen Montana would work with stakeholders to ensure the retirement process is orderly and minimizes the effect on employees, community members, and other key stakeholders while also working with those impacted by the redeployment.

“Our customers want a better energy future,” Ron Roberts, PSE’s director of Generation and Natural Gas Storage, said. “Helping our state transition from coal, along with the billons we’ve invested in renewable energy, is helping make that vision a reality. At the same time, our obligation is to provide customers with the lowest cost energy available. We’ve consistently talked about how the economics of coal may be the primary driver of plant closures, as is the case with Units 1 & 2.”