The sale of the coal-fired power plant in Montville to a company known for demolishing power plants will not have an impact on the supply of electricity in the region, according to Berlin electric utility Connecticut Light & Power.
The plant’s owner, AES Thames, informed CL&P that it will not be selling electricity from the plant to the utility following the plant’s sale to BTU Solutions, a Texas-based company known for retiring and destroying power plants.
“It will have no impact on our customers,” CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said. “There is sufficient supply.”
Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel on Tuesday said he hasn’t officially heard that the plant will close, but most Montville officials assume that will be the case. The plant has operated for 22 years, currenctly employs 34 jobs, and provides the town $1.2 million in tax revenue.
“I have not heard directly from anyone at the company that it will close,” McDaniel said. “But it has been rumored, and that’s the smart money that is what will happen.”
McDaniel said the plant could start laying off workers in January and retire the plant shortly thereafter.
Calls by the Hartford Business Journal to AES and BTU were not immediately returned on Tuesday.
The plant already has ended its agreement to sell power onto the grid, and has no future agreements in place, according to Marcia Blomberg, spokeswoman for grid administrator ISO New England.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is issuing new requirement for power plants under the Clean Air Act, which will require costly upgrades for many of New England’s coal-fired power plants. ISO predicts these changes could result in the retirement of 3,300-5,300 megawatts of coal-fired power in the region.
