Oregon Regulators concur with shutting down Coal Plants

Staff of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission has concurred with Portland General Electric's (PGE) request to close their Boardman Coal fired generation facility.  PGE proposed shutting down Boardman in its 2009 Integrated Resource Plan, which must be approved by Oregon regulators.   Boardman is a 550 MW coal plant, and the last such facility in Oregon.

The decision to close Boardman, appears to be based primarily on economic rational with the plant requiring significant investments in pollution control technology to keep operating.  However, it is also part of a regional trend to retire 1970s era Coal fired generation.  Puget Sound Energy suggested in their 2009 IRP that they would retire their interest in Colstrip units 1&2 in 2019 (p. 13).