CONCORD, N.H. —The last coal plants in New England will permanently stop operating under a settlement agreement signed Wednesday.
The agreement resolves pending litigation brought by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Sierra Club under the Clean Water Act against Granite Shore Power, the company that runs Merrimack Station in Bow and Schiller Station in Portsmouth. The US Environmental Protection Agency also signed onto the agreement.
Jim Andrews, the president and CEO of Granite Shore Power, said Schiller Station will voluntarily stop operating in June 2025, and Merrimack Station will stop in June 2028.
Conservation Law Foundation called the agreement a victory for health, clean air and water, and the climate.
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“The end of coal in New Hampshire, and for the New England region as a whole, is now certain and in sight,” said Tom Irwin, vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation in New Hampshire. According to CLF, about 20 percent of New England’s electricity came from coal just 20 years ago.
Andrews said the two sites will be redeveloped into renewable energy parks, where the company will put large-scale battery projects that can be used to store energy and solar arrays for generating electricity.
Merrimack station has struggled to meet emissions requirements. Andrews said that is not related to the decision to stop burning coal at those sites.
“I’ve been planning for this day for six years,” he said.
The company currently has capacity agreements with the grid operator, which means the plant promises it will run when there’s an extremely high demand for energy. That typically happens on the warmest and coldest days of the year, when people use a lot of electricity to heat or cool their homes.
Andrews said the company will fulfill those contracts before shuttering its coal operations and transitioning to clean energy. Granite Shore Power acquired the plants in 2018.
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The Sierra Club and Bloomberg Philanthropies also celebrated the news. Through Bloomberg Philanthropies, Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, has worked with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign since 2011. In Sept. 2023, Earthjustice reported that he gave $500 million to the campaign.
“A coal-free New England – a milestone more than a decade in the making – is a major victory for the region, the country, and the fight against climate change,” Bloomberg said in a statement. He said more than 70 percent of the US coal fleet is now retired or on its way out.
“Today, we celebrate as, at long last, New Hampshire joins our coal-free neighbors across New England,” said Cathy Corkery, senior organizer of the New Hampshire Sierra Club. “Local communities have long unjustly shouldered the burden of health and safety concerns caused by Merrimack Station and Schiller Stations’ pollution.”
The closure comes as New England starts transitioning to greater electricity use, as it is used to power more parts of the economy, according to Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, which represents 90 percent of the power generation capacity in New England. Proponents of expanding the use of electricity have pushed for it as a potentially cleaner and more efficient source of power than fossil fuel sources.
“This changing use of electricity will put a sharper focus on a reliable grid with ever cleaner electricity priced competitively,” Dolan said in a statement. He praised Granite Shore Power, which his organization represents, for its continued investment and supporting the needs of electricity consumers.
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“As some older, less efficient power generation gives way to newer sources, it is incumbent on industry and policymakers to continue the hard work to enhance the electricity market to get reliability, affordability, and a clean energy future right,” he said.
This article has been updated to include comments from the Sierra Club, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Dan Dolan.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.