One Indian River power plant unit still on schedule to retire

The Indian River power plant continues to decommission a recently retired unit, but officials say another unit is still operational.

Officials of parent company NRG said plans remain to retire Unit 4, but Unit 10 at the Indian River site is “still operational and available to provide energy to the grid.”

NRG retired its Unit 4 at Indian River in February, after ending a Reliability-Must-Run agreement with power grid operator PJM Interconnection that had allowed the plant to continue operating past its slated closure. The Indian River power plant, operating since 1957, had planned to close in 2022 before the extension was granted.

NRG would not say what the future of the Indian River plant is under the Trump administration’s Unleashing American Energy plan, which has eased previous restrictions and mandates placed on fossil-fuel power plants in an effort to keep power flowing into the grid.

PJM officials have repeatedly expressed concern over the need for more power sources to feed into the power grid that provides energy for the eastern half of the country. 

“For now, we are primarily focused on the safe decommissioning of the retired unit, but as we always do with any retired facility, we will look for opportunities for the site as we go forward,” officials said in a statement provided by spokeswoman Maddie Cresswell.

In a 2024 statement, NRG officials referred to the retirement of the plant as “the end of an era of dedicated service.”

“We empathize with the impact this has on our dedicated employees and the local Delaware residents, but are grateful for the opportunity to ‘keep the lights on’ and serve in partnership with the community for more than 68 years,” NRG officials said at the time.