Ontario Power Generation has announced plans to start decommissioning Lambton Generating Station in 2017.
OPG Spokesperson Neal Kelly says continuing to preserve the Courtright area facility beyond 2016 for future conversion is no longer economically feasible.
"Over the next few months OPG will be working on the details to ensure the site is closed safely, securely and in an environmentally responsible manner," says Kelly.
He says OPG will continue to own the site and will continue to look for future opportunities to repurpose the property, however the site will no longer be staffed and the property will be cleared of equipment and buildings.
Kelly says the 24 employees currently on site will be treated fairly following the terms of existing union agreements.
OPG says the decommissioning will save electricity customers $11-million.
LGS stopped burning coal in 2013 as part of the provincial government strategy to combat climate change.
In 2015, OPG held public meetings to discuss its plans to build up to a 30-MW solar farm on the site.
The proposal included a 50-acre area encompassing the former coal pile and a parcel of land at the north end of the property.
