U.P. power plant to close in 90 days

WHITE PINE — The White Pine Unit One electric generator in Ontonagon County will shut down in the next 90 days, as ordered by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).

The power plant is sixty years old. In a recent interview with ABC Ten, a spokesperson for the Michigan Agency for Energy called the plant “Not very efficient.”

With the power plant set to close in the next 90 days, the System Support Resource payments of just over seven million dollars will be terminated. State Representative Scott Dianda voiced his concerns about the closing of the plant.

“That plant was in place for the backup and reliability of our electrical grids,” said Dianda. “The thing that concerns me and my constituents the most is the fact that if we have any type of failure in our system, are we going to have the system up and running quickly? And that was always our backup and our ace in the hole.”

With the closing of the White Pine Power Plant, there are no more SSR payments in the state.