H.W. Pirkey lignite power plant demolition underway in Hallsville

HALLSVILLE, Texas ( KETK ) – The Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) said that work continued on Thursday to demolish the H.W. Pirkey Power Plant in Hallsville.

According to SWEPCO’s parent company, American Electric Power, the retiring and dismantling of the lignite plant’s stacks and boiler in Hallsville is part of their plan to transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2045 .

“We know customers need an energy system that is available to deliver reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable power where and when they need it,” said Brett Mattison, SWEPCO President and COO. “Meeting our customers’ needs – now and the future – requires a diverse generation portfolio, and we’re actively working towards additional, dispatchable generation.”

H.W. Pirkey started up as SWEPCO’s first lignite power plant 38 years ago on Jan. 3, 1985 in honor of former SWEPCO president Henry W. Pirkey, Jr. The plant lasted until 2023 when it was retired but fortunately when the retirement was first announced in 2020, an effort was started to help the community transition and mitigate the economic impact of the plant’s closure.

The Pirkey Transition Task Force was started by SWEPCO, the plant workers, the Just Transition Fund, local leaders, organizations, school districts and business owners to develop a transition action plan that would help the community and the workers.

The transition for employees consisted of individual support, job fairs, training and internal job openings that meant 90% of the workers affected were able to transition to a new AEP job or retire. According to AEP, this collaboration with the Just Transition Fund (JTF) was the first of it’s kind in the entire energy industry.

“Pirkey’s retirement truly is the end of an era being the only lignite – fired unit in the AEP fleet. Pirkey has always been a symbol of excellence, primarily driven by the most amazing group of individuals I have had the pleasure to call my friends and colleagues, as well as a long line of well-respected leaders. Pirkey’s legacy will continue for many years to come based on employee transitions throughout the SWEPCO and AEP organization.”

Joel T. Endsley, former Pirkey plant manager

The other big part of the transition effort was to replace the plant’s tax and school funding contributions. According to AEP, the plant generated $2 million a year for Marshall ISD and $300,000 for Hallsville ISD.

With the help of AEP and the JTF, the community started a Workforce and Education Alignment Group called the WE Alignment Group. The We Alignment Group partnered with the Texas Workforce Commission , Workforce Solutions East Texas and the East Texas Council of Governments to bring in $600,000 in job training grants and $105,000 for school equipment.

“Thank you, AEP, for the advance notice and support. Thank you, JTF, for guiding our community in the right direction while promoting local human capital and local decisions. Thank you to our community, for putting something collectively bigger than separate interests, front and center.”

Rush Harris, executive director of Marshall Economic Development Corporation

To replace the power generated by the plant, SWEPCO has announced three requests for proposals for up to 2,100 megawatts of power in the form of natural gas, wind, solar and storage resources.

AEP also plans to retire the J. Robert Welsh Power Plant in Pittsburg, TX in 2028.

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