SSE has closed one of the four generation units at its Fiddler’s Ferry coal plant in Cheshire, lowering the overall capacity of the power station from 1,995MW to 1,510MW.
The remaining three units, which all have capacity market contracts for the current year, will continue to operate as normal.
The company said the closure will have a limited impact on the energy system as the plant only had the rights to export up to 1,455MW to the power grid anyway.
It said it will continue to review the long-term future for the power station, noting the government’s commitment to phase out all unabated coal generation by 2025.
In February 2016, SSE announced plans to close three of the four units at the plant by the following April and in doing incur £33 million of penalties for breaching its capacity market contracts for 2018/19.
However, the company reversed course a month later after being awarded a contract to provide ancillary services to National Grid.