Council calls for closure of IPL plant

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — The Indianapolis City-County Council this week passed a resolution calling on Indianapolis Power & Light to fully retire a southwestern Indiana generating station by 2028.

The move calls for IPL to retire the remaining two units at the Petersburg Generating Station in Pike County plant in addition to the two coal-fired units it detailed retirement plans for in the utility’s integrated resource plan, which was filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in December.

The measure also implores IPL to replace any needed power supply with renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy storage.

“Our efforts here tonight urge IPL, the city’s power supplier, to partner with the city and her residents to meet the goals set out in our Thrive Indy Plan,” said Councilor Zach Adamson, who authored the resolution. “With the rising affordability of renewable energy sources, the people of Indianapolis expect us to join the fight against toxic air and the global climate crisis.”

The Indianapolis City-County Council says IPL currently gets 5% of its generation from renewable energy, making the utility 95% dependent on fossil fuels.

In an email to Inside INdiana Business, IPL stated:

“We respect the views of the council members who recently passed a special resolution recognizing the importance of the THRIVE Indianapolis plan goals. We believe IPL’s decision to retire two coal units at Petersburg Generating Stating is a balanced approach that preserves flexibility—should future market conditions change—while delivering cleaner, greener and affordable power to Indianapolis residents and businesses. We acknowledge the rapid changes in the energy landscape, and our integrated resource planning process evaluates our entire portfolio while taking into account economic factors, cost to customer and reliability. The City of Indianapolis is an important partner, and we will continue to work with them.”