Gorgas Power Plant, Alabama

The recently-closed Gorgas Power Plant opened in 1917, making it the oldest coal-fired power plant in Alabama. The plant grew over time to have 5 coal-fired units, whose combined output capacity was 1,416MW. The plant is owned and operated by Alabama Power Company, a subsidiary of Southern Company. In 2015, Alabama Power announced its intention to close the plant as well as cover all on-site ash ponds, rather than spend the estimated $300 million required to bring the aging plant into compliance with the EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule. It was offline in 2019, after more than a century of operation, and the reclamation has begun. The plant is in a widespread coal mining part of the state, and is just seven miles west of the Miller Power Plant, one of the largest coal-fired plants in the nation.