East Kentucky Power
Cooperative today officially made the 268-megawatt E.A. Gilbert
Generating Unit in Maysville commercial, which is one month ahead
of schedule.
The $400 million unit, which ranks among the cleanest coal generating
units in America, will provide EKPC and the 16 not-for-profit cooperatives
served by the organization with clean, affordable electric power
for decades to come.
“This is a proud day for East Kentucky Power and the employees
at Spurlock Station who worked so hard to bring the Gilbert Unit
online for the past 32 months,” said CEO Roy M. Palk. “The
unit uses a cutting edge technology that protects the environment
and will assist the state with its new energy plan to maintain the
lowest average electric rates in the nation.”
The unit is located adjacent to two conventional coal-fired generating
units. The Gilbert Unit operates with a cutting edge clean-coal
technology known as the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) process.
Coal is burned at a much lower temperature than a conventional unit
and limestone is fed into the boiler, resulting in extremely low
emission levels.
In a CFB unit, coal burns at nearly half the temperature of a traditional
unit, removing 98 percent of the sulfur dioxide. The process produces
five times less nitrogen oxide than a conventional unit.
Other facts of interest about the Gilbert Unit:
• It produces enough electricity to power the homes in 30 cities
the size of Maysville for a whole year.
• Up to 700 construction workers built the unit. That pumped
more than $20 million in annual payroll into Mason County and the
surrounding region for the past few years.
• 35 additional permanent jobs have been created at Spurlock
Station because of the unit, bringing total employment at the plant
to just over 190 workers.
• The unit will provide the state of Kentucky a total of more
than $9 million in property taxes during its first 20 years of operation.
The Gilbert Unit is needed because of strong growth among the 16
not-for-profit distribution cooperatives that receive power from
– and own – EKPC. The member systems are growing at a
rate more than twice the national average. A 17th cooperative, Bowling
Green based Warren
RECC, will join the system in April 2008.
Because of the system growth, EKPC last fall announced plans to
add two generating units that will be identical to the Gilbert Unit.
Spurlock Station Unit #4 is a CFB unit planned to go online in 2008.
It will be built adjacent to the Gilbert Unit. Smith Unit #1 will
be built at J.K. Smith Station in Clark County. It is scheduled
to go online in 2009.
EKPC is in the process of seeking state and federal regulatory approvals
of both units.
EKPC is a not-for-profit organization providing wholesale electricity
to 16 distribution cooperatives that serve more than 480,000 Kentucky
homes, farms, businesses and industries across 89 counties. EKPC
provides power through plants located in Mason, Clark and Pulaski
counties, renewable energy plants in Boone, Laurel and Greenup counties,
along with gas peaking units, hydro power and more than 2,600 miles
of transmission lines. Together, EKPC and the member cooperatives
are known as Kentucky's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.
For more information, call:
Kevin Osbourn, East Kentucky Power Cooperative
Phone: (859) 744-4864, ext. 419
Kentucky Association of
Electric Cooperatives, Inc.
4515 Bishop Lane * Louisville, KY 40218
502-451-2430 * FAX: 502-459-3209 Terms of Use
