Emission Controls Didn't Save This Coal-Fired Power Plant
David Wagman | November 29, 2017WEC Energy Group plans to close the two-unit, 1,190 megawatt Pleasant Prairie coal-fired power plant in the second quarter of 2018.
Unit 1 entered service in 1980 and Unit 2 came online in 1985. The plant uses an average of 13,000 tons of coal a day from Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
Pleasant Prairie has been operating at reduced capacity in recent years. The power plant did not operate for three months this past spring, the company said.
The power plant employs 158 people, and the company says it will try to reassign many of them to other facilities.
Both units were outfitted with emission control equipment. Credit: We Energies.We Energies spent $325 million on pollution controls at Pleasant Prairie to meet air emission regulations. Selective catalytic reduction controls were added to Unit 2 in 2003 and Unit 1 in 2006 to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 85 to 90 percent.
In addition, wet flue gas desulfurization controls were added to Unit 1 in 2006 and Unit 2 in 2007. They reduced sulfur dioxide emissions by 90 percent, the company says.
WEC Energy Group also plans to shut down coal power plants in Green Bay and Presque Isle, Mich. The Michigan facility will be replaced with two new natural gas facilities.
In 2015, WEC converted a power plant near Milwaukee from coal to natural gas. A second power plant was converted from coal to natural gas in 2008.
The company also plans to increase its use of renewable energy and plans to add a 350 MW solar power facility in Wisconsin by 2020.
Tell me again about this "Clean Coal". LoL
I still don't understand why they're being shut down. You mentioned the investment to clean it up. But you didn't mention the effectiveness of that investment. Did it work or not? If it's not because of "dirty" coal, then why shut them down? Even if they are idled, they would still make a very good standby in an emergency. I wouldn't scrap them just yet.
In reply to #2
Much to the Koch bros. dismay, Wisconsin utilities are investing in and converting to NG and Wind as these older coal plants become untenable. The conversion to NG is only done on plants that are above a certain efficiency rating. Not sure how that is calculated, but it has ended almost a dozen coal plants in the last 10 years.
If not convertible, they are mothballed until the utility company gets around to dismantling the site and doing the clean up. Now if you are some notable power companies, you delay this process until you go out of business or file bankruptcy and then stick the US tax payer with the cost of tear down and clean up. It's the NeoCon way.