Vistra is extending the life of its coal-fired Baldwin Power Plant in Illinois through 2027 amid MISO delivering warnings over a supply crunch in its footprint.
The Irving, Texas-based company said Dec. 17 that it will keep the Baldwin plant running for an additional two years while still meeting EPA retirement and pond closure obligations. Vistra originally announced in 2020 that the 1,185-MW coal plant would close at the end of 2025.
The utility said the extension will buy the region some time to bring new generation online while helping to avoid a capacity shortfall.
“Vistra is committed to the responsible transition of our fleet in Illinois, and in this case, the most reasonable path forward is to continue to operate the plant as a reliable bridge to 2027, as we, and others, bring new generation assets online in the state,” CEO Jim Burke said in a press release. “As many organizations have recently raised concerns over reliability and resource adequacy in central and southern Illinois, we are taking action and delivering solutions that balance the needs of reliability, affordability and sustainability.”
The company has built a 68-MW solar farm and 2-MW/8-MWh energy storage facility at Baldwin; they began operations this month. It said its current coal-solar-storage setup at Baldwin “demonstrates the company’s commitment to evaluating how to best leverage the footprint, infrastructure and transmission connections already at the plant sites to meet the evolving electricity needs of customers.”
Vistra has planned on-site solar and storage at its other downstate coal plants as part of Illinois’ Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative. It has completed a 44-MW solar and 2-MW/8-MWh storage facility at the Coffeen Power Plant and will begin construction of a 52-MW solar and 2-MW/8-MWh storage facility at the Newton Power Plant in 2025.
Vistra also noted it has begun construction on a 405-MW solar farm that will interconnect at its retired Joppa Power Plant.
MISO has said it could contend with a capacity shortfall as soon as the upcoming summer. (See OMS-MISO RA Survey: Potential 14-GW Capacity Deficit by Summer 2029.) While the RTO and the Organization of MISO States’ five-year resource adequacy survey this year did not show the potential for such an immediate shortfall in southern Illinois’ Zone 4, nearby Zone 5 in Missouri was flagged for substantial risk.
