New England's last coal plant has stopped operating, according to its owners

Summary

The last coal-fired power plant in New England, Merrimack Station, has stopped running.With the closure of that facility, the region is poised to become the first in the United States without a coal plant on its grid (though New York state, which has its own regional grid operator, stopped burning coal in 2020).Granite Shore Power, the company that owns the coal plant in Bow, New Hampshire, said they ceased commercial operations September 12th, about a year and a half since they announced they would retire their facility by 2028 as part of a settlement agreement with environmental groups.“For nearly three quarters of a century, Merrimack Station has reliably served the energy needs of families and businesses across New Hampshire,” the company wrote in a statement.The facility still has two kerosene-fired generators that will continue running. It has been struggling to keep its coal-fired generators in compliance with state regulations for more than two years.“I’m so glad that we are not going to burn any more coal in New Hampshire,” said Kendra Ford, a climate organizer with 350 New Hampshire. “I know that this is hard on people who work there, and I know that the town of Bow may also be a little caught off guard by it closing at this moment, so I hope that lots of things can be done for those folks.”Merrimack Station and another plant owned by Granite Shore Power, Schiller Station, are the last two coal-fired plants connected to New England’s regional electric grid. Schiller Station has not burned coal since 2020. In Maine, a paper mill burns coal to power their own operations.Mary Cate Colapietro, a spokesperson for New England’s regional grid operator, said the organization has not received a formal retirement request from Merrimack Station, but the region does not depend on the facility for the grid’s reliability.“Coal generation accounted for only 0.22% of power in the region in 2024,” Colapietro said.Colapietro said there is no way to track what kinds of fuel ...