In January 2020, Hoosier Energy made the decision to retire the 1070 MW Merom coal plant in 2023, more than 20 years earlier than planned. This was the most significant decision for the company in decades as Merom supplied approximately half of the members’ energy requirements. The company’s decision was in response to worsening plant economics and the company’s desire to operate a more diverse and sustainable portfolio.
Over the course of 2019, CRA worked with the Hoosier management team, their cooperative board members, and their member managers to evaluate alternatives and develop a long-term resource strategy. Donna Walker, Hoosier’s CEO since November 2018, sat down with Jim McMahon (virtually) to reflect on the decision from a year ago, provide an update on their latest activity, and share her thoughts on how the role of the G&T cooperative is changing.