Merom Generating Station

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Merom Generating Station is an operating power station of at least 1080-megawatts (MW) in Sullivan, Indiana, United States with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Merom Generating Station	Sullivan, Sullivan, Indiana, United States	39.0694, -87.5108 (exact)

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3: 39.0694, -87.5108

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Equipment	Emergency/Backup
Unit 1	Operating	coal: bituminous	540	subcritical	1982	–	no
Unit 2	Operating	coal: bituminous	540	subcritical	1983	–	no
Unit 3	Pre-construction	fossil gas: natural gas	515	unknown	2029 (planned)	not found	no

CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Hallador Power Company LLC [100%]	Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative Inc [100.0%]
Unit 2	Hallador Power Company LLC [100%]	Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative Inc [100.0%]
Unit 3	Hallador Power Company LLC [100%]	Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative Inc [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): domestic

Impacts

Potential emissions and details on the project's status and permit applications can be viewed on Oil and Gas Watch page here.

The Oil and Gas Watch database, created by Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), is a free, public-facing tool designed to track the rapid expansion of fossil fuel and petrochemical infrastructure in the United States. Oil and Gas Watch maps new and expanding oil, gas, and petrochemical infrastructure projects across the country and monitors each project’s construction status so the public can stay informed about major oil and gas developments being proposed in their communities. We track key environmental approvals companies must obtain before starting construction or operations and provide access to thousands of government records and permits unearthed by our analysts.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

In January 2020, Hoosier Energy announced their new 20 year resource plan that includes the closing of the Merom coal plant by 2023. However, due to a new deal made with a cryptocurrency mining facility, the ultimate retirement of the plant was postponed.

In October 2022, Hoosier Energy transferred ownership of Merom Generating Station to Hallador Energy Company. The power station would be operated by a subsidiary called Hallador Power Company. The transaction included a 3.5 year power purchase agreement (PPA) and an additional PPA for 150 MW of solar generation and 50 MW of battery storage. The announcement mentioned the "eventual" retirement of coal-fired generation.

In May 2026, Hallador signed a US$1 billion power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) to provide 500 MW of capacity from Merom Generating Station to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator from September 2028 through May 2040. The coal capacity was reportedly slated to contribute to a pool of generation resources that NIPSCO would use to serve future data center customers.

In June 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) allocated US$27.2 million under the Defense Production Act to “modernize” coal units at Merom Generating Station. According to the DOE, the project was expected to “maintain operational reliability and promote environmental stewardship.” The DOE’s Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office also allocated nearly US$800,000 combined for two projects to conduct pre-Front-End Engineering Design studies on retrofits for gas dual-firing and co-firing at Merom.

Cryptocurrency

See also: AboutBit Sullivan County facility

On May 11, 2022, AboutBit issued a press release announcing a five year deal to secure 115 MW from the coal fired power plant, and that the facility is expected to go online in the next 30 days. The generating station—currently owned by Hoosier Energy—is being acquired by Hallador Power Co. LLC, with the deal expected to close in July 2022. In 2020, Hoosier Energy announced a plan that included the retirement of the Merom plant, but those plans have been shelved as a result of Hallador's acquisition and AboutBit's agreement to purchase power from the plant. Hallador also owns Sunrise Coal LLC, Indiana's second largest coal producer.

However, in December 2023, AboutBit's CEO reportedly said that the company's 2022 press release was outdated and denied that the cryptocurrency mining facility was related to Merom Generating Station staying open.

Data center

In a quarterly report from September 2024, Hallador Energy stated it had signed a non-binding agreement with an unnamed data center developer for “large portions” of generation for over a decade from the Merom generating station.

Emissions Data

• 2024 Gross Load (MWh): 4,208,666
• 2024 SO2 Mass (short tons): 2,464
• 2024 CO2 Mass (short tons): 4,550,093
• 2024 NOx Mass (short tons): 1,275
• 2023 Mercury emissions (Hg, lb): 17.27

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Merom

In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Merom Generating Station

Type of Impact	Annual Incidence	Valuation
Deaths	31	$230,000,000
Heart attacks	48	$5,200,000
Asthma attacks	520	$27,000
Hospital admissions	22	$520,000
Chronic bronchitis	19	$8,400,000
Asthma ER visits	33	$12,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011

Coal Waste Sites

• Merom Generating Station All

Study finds dangerous level of hexavalent chromium at Merom waste site

A report released by EarthJustice and the Sierra Club in early February 2011 stated that there are many health threats associated with a toxic cancer-causing chemical found in coal ash waste called hexavalent chromium. The report specifically cited 29 sites in 17 states where the contamination was found. The information was gathered from existing EPA data on coal ash and included locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virgina and Wisconsin. In Indiana, the Merom Generating Station in Sullivan was reported as having high levels of chromium seeping into groundwater from its coal waste landfill.

According to EPA data, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) was reported at the Merom Generating Station All landfill site above 100 ppb (parts per billion) - 5,000 times the proposed California drinking water goals and above the federal drinking water standard.

As a press release about the report read:

Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical has readily leaked from coal ash sites across the U.S. This is likely the tip of the iceberg because most coal ash dump sites are not adequately monitored.

According to the report, the electric power industry is the leading source of chromium and chromium compounds released into the environment, representing 24 percent of releases by all industries in 2009.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.