GenOn delays closure of Cheswick Generating Station, Allegheny County's only coal-fired plant

The closure of Cheswick Generating Station — Allegheny County’s only coal-fired power plant — has been postponed until spring.

Houston-based GenOn Holdings LLC, which owns the plant, said in June that the plant would be permanently retired by Sept. 15. The company last week moved the plant’s retirement date to April 1, 2022, according to a news release.

GenOn did not respond to inquiries about why the retirement date was delayed.

No power generation operations will continue at the 565-megawatt plant after its retirement, GenOn has said.

Cheswick Generating Station, located in Springdale, was commissioned in 1970.

In a statement announcing GenOn’s intentions to retire the plant, the company blamed the closure of the Cheswick site — and similar plants in Avon Lake, Ohio, and Newburg, Md. — on “unfavorable economic conditions, higher costs including those associated with environmental compliance, an inability to compete with other generation types and evolving market rules that promote subsidized sources.”

The closure of Avon Lake Generating Station also is be postponed from Sept. 15 until April.

More than 50 people will lose their jobs as a result of the Cheswick Generating Station’s retirement.

GenOn said it would continue to provide benefits “common in this situation to all affected employees.”

Allegheny County Councilman Nicholas Futules, who represents Springdale, said he heard the power plant’s closure was delayed, but he didn’t know any details about why the retirement date was pushed back.

“It’s kind of good news, I think, to keep the place open. By April, things could change,” he said.

Futules previously told the Tribune-Review that, while he wasn’t surprised by the plant’s closure, its retirement marked “the end of an era.”

Futules and other local officials recently told the Tribune-Review they did not know what GenOn’s plans for the site might entail. GenOn has not said what the future might hold for the site.

The closure has sparked mixed reactions in the community, with some mourning the loss of jobs and revenue in the community and others celebrating the demise of a coal-burning plant that had sparked environmental concerns.