San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro announced today that City Public Service's Deely coal-fired plant will be shut down by 2018. CPS Energy, San Antonio's publicly-owned utility, will turn to solar power announcing agreements with five investment partners, committing to meet 20% of its energy needs through renewable energy by 2020.
"Today is the beginning of San Antonio's effort to become the 'new energy economy' city," said Mayor Castro in a live webcast today.
The CPS Deely plant is the first publically-owned coal plant announced to retire in Texas.
According to the president of CPS Energy, Doyle Beneby, their new plans will cut emissions of sulfur dioxides by 85%, nitrus oxide by 30%, carbon dioxides by 25%, and mercury by 58% by the time the plant closes.
"Closing Deely coal plant and transitioning to a clean energy economy will be a tremendous benefit for San Antonio," according to a joint news release released by the Sierra Club, SEED Coalition, and Public Citizen.