Clean Coal Generating Unit Goes Online in Kentucky
04/01/2009

On April 1, East Kentucky Power Cooperative started operations of one of America’s cleanest coal-generating units online at its H.L. Spurlock Station plant.

The new 278-megawatt unit will provide EKPC and the 16 not-for-profit cooperatives served by the organization with affordable, reliable electric power for decades to come. At the peak of construction, as many as 700 workers built the $528 million unit, pumping millions of dollars in annual payroll into the economy of Mason County and the surrounding region.

“This is a proud day for East Kentucky Power and the employees at Spurlock Station who worked so hard to bring Unit #4 online over the past 33 months,” said CEO Bob Marshall. “Building the unit created hundreds of jobs, and it will bring millions of dollars in new tax revenue to local and state government. This is an investment in Kentucky’s people and our future.”

The unit is located adjacent to two conventional coal-fired generating units and an identical clean-coal unit that went online in 2005. The clean-coal units use a technology known as the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) process, which feeds limestone into the boilers, resulting in extremely low emission levels.

In a CFB unit, coal burns at nearly half the temperature of a traditional unit, producing 80 percent less nitrogen oxide than a conventional plant. The process removes 98 percent of the sulfur dioxide and is also much more efficient than conventional units because fine coal particles are re-circulated within the boiler. The clean-coal units are 10 times cleaner than conventional units in removing particulate matter.

In addition to its low emission levels, the unit has the capability to burn renewable fuels such as switchgrass. EKPC is part of an innovative four-year project to study using switchgrass, which is native to Kentucky, as fuel for its power plants. In December, EKPC mixed about 70 tons of processed switchgrass into the coal feedstock of the first clean-coal unit built at Spurlock Station.

This year, EKPC plans to burn up to 400 tons of switchgrass as part of the four-year pilot project in which EKPC is partnering with the University of Kentucky’s (UK) College of Agriculture and local farmers.

“We want to find out if switchgrass can be a viable supplemental fuel for our power plants,” said Marshall. “Our fleet of power plants now includes two units that could burn switchgrass as fuel.”

EKPC plans to build an identical clean-coal generating unit at J.K. Smith Station located in Clark County. The unit must receive final regulatory approvals before construction can begin.

Here are other facts of interest about Spurlock Unit #4:

* It produces enough electricity to power 140,000 homes.

* Building the unit pumped more than $20 million annual payroll into Mason County and the surrounding region during the past few years.

* Twenty-four additional permanent jobs have been created at Spurlock Station because of the addition of the unit and two new scrubbers, which will soon bring total employment at the plant to 207 workers.

* The unit will provide the state of Kentucky a total of nearly $12 million in property taxes during its first 20 years of operation.

Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. 4515 Bishop Lane * Louisville, KY  40218 502-451-2430 * FAX: 502-459-3209 Terms of Use