SSE : confirms will close last two coal units at Fiddler's Ferry power plant

LONDON (Reuters) - British energy company SSE confirmed its plan to close the two remaining coal-fired generation units at its Fiddler's Ferry power plant in Cheshire by the end of March next year, after consultation with employees and trade unions.

SSE proposed the closure in June this year.

Fiddler's Ferry is the last coal-fired power plant in SSE's generation fleet. It has three units with a total capacity of more than 1.5 gigawatts. One of the units was closed in March.

"Fiddler’s Ferry has had limited success in the government’s capacity market auctions and its current contract ended in September 2019," SSE said in a statement.

"Its financial performance has deteriorated to unsustainable levels, with losses of around £40 million in SSE’s last financial year," it added.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Susan Fenton)