Vistra Energy’s subsidiary Luminant plans to close two coal-fired power plants in Central Texas with a combined capacity of nearly 2.3GW after deeming them to be no longer economically viable in the competitive power market.

The coal plants are the 1,137MW Sandow Power Plant in Milam County and the 1,150MW Big Brown Power Plant in Freestone County which will cease operations in early 2018.

Luminant says that low wholesale power prices for a sustained period of time combined with factors like oversupplied renewable generation market and low natural gas prices have led to the decision.

The Sandow power plant, which caters to around 570,000 homes, is made up of two units. The first unit began operations in 1981 while the other unit commenced power generation in 2009.

In connection with the Sandow closure, Luminant has agreed for a contract termination with Alcoa to facilitate an early settlement of their power and mining deal.

Three Oaks Mine, the supporting mine of Sandow, will also be closed owing to the power plant closure. Following this, about 450 employees associated with Sandow and Three Oaks will be impacted.

Luminant revealed that it would try to sell the Big Brown site during the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) notification period. It also added that the Turlington Mine associated with the power plant is on schedule for shutdown by the year end.

Comprising two units, the Big Brown power plant generates enough power to serve 575,000 homes. Its first unit started operations in 1971 and was joined a year later by the second unit.

The Big Brown closure has been estimated to impact around 200 employees.

Vistra Energy president and CEO Curt Morgan said: “This announcement is a difficult one to make. It is never easy to announce an action that has a significant impact on our people.

“Though the long-term economic viability of these plants has been in question for some time, our year-long analysis indicates this announcement is now necessary. These employees have kept both plants reliably powering Texas for decades, and we greatly appreciate their service.”

Luminant will stop operations at Sandow in January 2018 and at Big Brown in February 2018 should ERCOT determine that the plants are no longer needed for grid reliability.

Earlier in the month, the Vistra subsidiary announced its decision to close the 1.8GW coal-fired Monticello Power Plant in Texas in January 2018.

Image: Sandow Power Plant in Milam County, Texas. Photo: courtesy of Luminant.