Exelon to cut 280 jobs, shut Phoenixville plant, Delco units
“Decreased power demand, oversupply of natural gas and increasing operating costs, has led Exelon Power to retire these units"
Exelon Power says today it plans to "permanently retire Units 1 and 2 at Cromby Generating Station (Phoenixville) and Units 1 and 2 at Eddystone Generating Station, effective May 31, 2011." Statement here.
Exelon keeps moving from fossil fuel to nuclear, from carbon to uranium: As the Inquirer's Andy Maykuth reported Sunday, Exelon is in the process of boosting power output from its Limerick and Peach Bottom nuclear power plants. Story here.
From Exelon's statement: "Following these retirements, Eddystone Station will remain in service, operating six units capable of generating 820 megawatts. Cromby Station will close when its units permanently retire... The four units, all in suburban Philadelphia, are no longer economic to operate and are not required to meet shrinking demand for electricity in the region."
Exelon and its Peco Energy unit employ around 6,200 in Pennsylvania, says spokesman Tim Wirth.
"Decreased power demand, oversupply of natural gas and increasing operating costs, has led Exelon Power to retire these units," said Doyle Beneby, senior vice president of Exelon Power, in the statement. "Unfortunately, these aging units are no longer efficient enough to compete with newer resources... These units faced a difficult year economically in 2009, and we expect the forces that contributed to the difficulties to continue for an extended period of time."
280 jobs will end at the plants "between the end of first quarter 2010 and late 2011. About 220 of the positions are located at the two power stations, the remainder at the company's Kennett Square, Pa., headquarters." Exelon will try to find them jobs elsewhere at the company.
Cromby Unit 1, built in 1954, burns coal and produces 144 megawatts of electricity. Unit 2, built the next year, can produce 201 megawatts, burning natural gas or fuel oil. The coal-burning Eddystone units slated for closing, built in 1960, include Eddystone 1, 279 megawatts, and Eddystone 2, 309 megawatts. Including what'll be left of Eddystone, "Exelon Power will continue to operate 4,200 megawatts of natural gas, oil, hydro, and landfill generation within the PJM Interconnection," which must evaluate the shutdowns.