Indianapolis Power & Light last week retired four units at its Eagle Valley Generating Station, highlighting the need for a cleaner and more diverse generation mix. The facility will be replaced by a new 671 MW combined-cycle gas facility, Platts reports. Along with IPL, Platts points out that three other utilities also closed coal plants on Friday: Duke Energy Indiana, Consumers Energy and Holland Board of Public Worksm in Michigan. All total, the retirements amounted to 2,000 MW of coal capacity located in the Midwest. Dive Insight: Coal retirements are becoming common, but Friday’s slate of closures highlighted the speed at which the country’s generation mix is changing. While utilities are increasingly adding renewables to the mix, replacing large baseload plants often means turning to new, more efficiency natural gas plants. “We will meet the future needs of our customers with a balanced energy mix and by […]