One of Ohio’s major utilities is shutting down or selling five more coal units by 2020, another sign that the future of coal may not be so bright.
The move by FirstEnergy means the company is unloading more than 800 megawatts of coal power.
FirstEnergy’s Jennifer Young said this had nothing to do with environmental regulations and was strictly a business decision, though no jobs will be lost.
“Really this has more to do with their size and the fact that they’re older and less efficient. They just aren’t competitive in today’s marketplace,” said Young.
The Sierra Club says this is just the latest example that coal is on the way out and that companies need to start investing in renewable energy.
The state’s utilities are left with about 12,000 megawatts of coal power, just more than half of what they started with in 2010.
