Friday, April 29, 2011

LG&E Announce Possible Retirement of Coal Burning Power at Cane Run!! James Bruggers-CJ

LG&E Energy's Cane Run power plant

Possible closures at power plants

Cane Run, Louisville, LG&E. Began commercial operation in 1954. Three of six units already retired. Three remaining units, which began service in 1962, have a generating capacity of 563 megawatts. Plant burns 1.3 million tons of coal per year. 
Green River, Central City, KU. Began operation in 1950. Two units have a generating capacity of 163 megawatts. Burns about 400,000 tons of coal each year. 
Tyrone, Versailles, KU. Began operation in 1947. Three units. Two oil-burning units already retired and one coal 75-megawatt coal unit has been mothballed.

Mirroring a national trend toward cleaner air, Louisville Gas and Electric Co. and Kentucky Utilities are making initial plans to retire coal-burning units at three aging power plants within five years, including the Cane Run station in western Louisville.
According to long-range planning documents filed late last week with the Public Service Commission, the other two plants that could shut down coal-fired operations by 2016 are KU's Green River plant in Central City in Western Kentucky, and KU's Tyrone 
station in Versailles, which has already been mothballed temporarily.
The changes, if they happen, could improve air quality in the Louisville area and lessen conflicts with Cane Run plant neighbors, who complain of blowing soot and toxic ash getting on and into their homes.
“From a breathing standpoint, less coal being burned is better,” said Matt Stull, spokesman for the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District.
But a Louisville-based spokeswoman for the two companies, which are owned by the PPL Corp. of Allentown, Pa., said any change would likely come at a cost — and cautioned against reading too much into the plans filed with the state.
“This is not a final decision,” spokeswoman Chris Whelan said, calling the planning document “a snapshot in time” to keep state regulators up to speed on the company's long-range thinking.
In the utilities' latest joint Integrated Resource Plan, updated every three years and made public by the PSC on Friday, the companies' experts call for adding three times as much electricity-generating capacity from cleaner-burning natural gas as the utilities retire from coal.
They say the new power mix is what will be needed to keep their rates as low as possible amid tightening environmental regulations, even as electricity demand grows.
In all, 979 megawatts of coal-burning capacity would be retired in 2016, while the two utilities would add 2,721 megawatts from natural gas — though it's not clear yet where the new gas turbines would be. The utilities currently produce about 8,000 megawatts of electricity, the document says.
The three plants are about 55 to 65 years old, the oldest in the combined utilities' system.
Whelan said 2016 is when the companies expect they will have to meet tougher new Clean Air Act rules for mercury and a category of emissions known as “hazardous air pollutants.” But she said other factors involved include anticipated new rules on coal-burning wastes, such as ash and scrubber sludge.
Customers could see their rates rise as much as 20 percent to accommodate the conversion, Whelan said.
But that's not certain.
The PSC would need to approve any future rate increases, as well as any specific plans by the companies to replace coal-burning units with any new construction, including natural gas-fired generators, said Andrew Melnykovych, the commission spokesman.
Whelan said the companies believe rates would have to rise even more if they kept the coal-fired units operating by adding modifications to meet new environmental regulations.
She said company officials are developing specific proposals that they hope to roll out sooner rather than later.

Service mandate

LG&E and KU serve 939,000 electricity customers through a transmission and distribution network of 27,600 miles of power lines.
“The mandate is for the companies … to meet future energy requirements within their service areas at the lowest possible cost consistent with reliable supply,” their document states.
“Considering the high capital costs for coal options and the anticipated retirement of the six coal units at the Cane Run, Green River and Tryone stations … (LG&E and KU) recommends that the next generating units added” will be natural gas, the planning document says.
Other utilities are also moving in the direction of generating less air pollution.
The Tennessee Valley Authority on April 14 announced that it will be shutting down 18 of its older and dirtier coal-fired power units, and looking toward nuclear, natural gas, biomass and energy efficiency to address future electricity needs.
And in New Albany, Ind., across the Ohio River from Louisville, Duke Energy has been evaluating a plan to convert its old Gallagher plant from coal to natural gas.
Louisville attorney Tom FitzGerald, who closely tracks the coal and utility industries, said electricity rates from coal have been held down because they've not taken into account the damage burning coal causes to people's health and the environment, ranging from premature death and asthma attacks to mercury-laden fish in rivers, streams and lakes.
“We have known for some time that the next generation of plants with the PPL system here would be gas-fired,” FitzGerald said. That's because it's cleaner, and natural gas has become more abundant with new drilling methods, he added.
Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, questioned the utilities' calculations.
His understanding is that it's cheaper to put pollution controls on coal-fired plants than to switch to natural gas, Bissett said.
“We strongly believe that coal will remain the dominant form of electricity generation for the commonwealth for many generations to come,” he said.
Bissett added that any moves by domestic utilities to reduce using coal probably won't dampen overall demand for it. He said any Kentucky coal not sold to in-state or other U.S. utilities will likely be purchased by other countries, including China.
“Our association continues to get calls seeking coal,” Bissett said.
Whelan said the three plants have about 200 workers, and it's “entirely too soon to speculate on how this would impact their roles.”

Cane Run controversy

The Cane Run plant in Louisville began commercial operation in 1954, and three of its six units are already retired. The three remaining units went in service in 1962, Whelan said.
The plant has been at the center of a neighborhood controversy.
The ash pond there has been ranked a “high hazard” because it's just across Cane Run Road from homes and could damage them if its walls collapsed.
In addition, the plant's landfill for waste from burning coal is reaching capacity. LG&E officials said in 2010 that the existing landfill had about three years of space left. The company is seeking permits for a new dump for the plant's ash and scrubber sludge that could rise as high as a 14-story building on 60 acres over 16 years.
In 2009 alone, the company dumped more than 650,000 pounds of waste, including numerous toxic heavy metals commonly found in coal, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Whelan said LG&E needs to proceed with seeking the permits for the landfill because no decision has been reached on whether to retire Cane Run's coal-burning units.
“We continue to have a plant (there) that serves our customers at low prices, and we don't think we are harming the neighbors,” she said.
Neighbor Kathy Little said she is pleased to hear that the company is moving toward shutting down coal burning at Cane Run.
“That's wonderful news,” said Little, whose home tested positive this winter for coal ash on a window sill. “It's going in the right direction.”
Reporter James Bruggers can be reached at (502) 582-4645.

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