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Great River Energy has announced plans to retire the Stanton Station power plant by May 2017.

The company said the plant is no longer economic to operate with current low prices.

“After careful consideration of several alternatives, it became clear that retiring the plant was in the best interest of our member cooperatives,” David Saggau, GRE president and CEO, said in a statement.

Since March, Stanton Station has been generating electricity on a limited basis, only firing up 65 percent to 75 percent of the time when market prices made it economical. During that time, it often has been more affordable to operate other plants or purchase power from the regional market.

There are 65 GRE employees at Stanton Station. Those employees will be able to apply for any openings at other GRE facilities, company spokesman Lyndon Anderson said.

GRE has two open positions in Minnesota but this number continually changes, according to Anderson, who said the company expects there to be a number of positions open in the next year at its North Dakota facilities.