FirstEnergy's Unit To Make Operational Changes To Coal-Fired Units

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) disclosed Friday today that its FirstEnergy Solutions subsidiary would undergo operational changes to coal-fired units at two of its Ohio plants. According to the company, the changes were in response to challenging market conditions.

FirstEnergy also indicated that it might divest or deactivate the 136-megawatt (MW) Bay Shore Unit 1 in Oregon, Ohio, by October 2020. Aside from that, Units 1-4 of its seven-unit W.H. Sammis Plant in Stratton, Ohio, which represented 720 MW of capacity collectively, would be retired in May 2020. The company added that its Units 5-7 would continue to offer 1,490 MW of reliable baseload generation.

The company's President for Generation, Jim Lash, said, "We have taken a number of steps in recent years to reduce operating costs of our generation fleet. However, continued challenging market conditions have made it increasingly difficult for smaller units like Bay Shore and Sammis Units 1-4 to be competitive. It's no longer economically viable to operate these facilities."

FirstEnergy clarified there would be no job cuts at both the plants and that it would work with any potential suitors to negotiate continued jobs for the 78 employees at its Bay Shore or if the plant is deactivated. It would also explore the possibility of offering its employees job in its other facilities.

The company pointed out that in 2015, Bay Shore Unit 1 and Sammis Units 1-4 contributed approximately four percent of the electricity produced by its generating plants. The company added that it has no plans to offer these units into the PJM capacity auction for the 2020-2021 timeframe.