TECH

Sixty years of coal burning ends at LG&E plant

James Bruggers
@jbruggers

The old Cane Run power plant stacks that have towered above the Ohio River for decades are silent now, their coal burners no longer sending plumes of pollution across the Louisville sky.

Gone, too, are the stockpiles of hundreds of thousands of tons of dirty coal, carried in rail cars, and the mountainous production of coal burning wastes — the coal ash and scrubber sludge that will be entombed there forever.

LG&E and KU Energy shut down the 1950s-era coal plant last month. And on Monday, the company dedicated its new, $540 million, 650-megawatt power plant at its Cane Run property — the first natural gas combined cycle power plant in Kentucky. Even though the plant was running at full capacity Monday, no emissions could be seen coming from its stacks. It will produce 14 percent more electricity than the old Cane Run plant, while operating much more efficiently, company officials said.

"We look at this as many successes," said Mayor Greg Fischer, who was on hand for the dedication.

The plant's construction created hundreds of jobs, and its operation will make "an immediate improvement to the environment" because "everybody knows natural gas burns much cleaner."

Compared to its now shut-down coal burning neighbor, company officials said the new plant will emit 50 percent less particulates, 99 percent less sulfur dioxide and 82 percent less nitrogen oxides — pollutants that contribute to the region's decades-long struggle with air quality.

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Natural gas when burned also produces about half the carbon dioxide than coal, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And with new climate pollution rules anticipated by the end of the summer, state officials have been counting on coal-to-gas conversions like the one at Cane Run to position them for potential compliance.

The end of coal burning also means the end of coal ash production, a source of many complaints by Cane Run plant neighbors and repeated fines from the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District.

Kathy Little, who lives across the street from the power plant complex and pressed LG&E to clean up, said she will not miss "pounds upon pounds of ash blowing in your face."

Closing the coal plant and firing up a natural gas plant is a victory for the community, she said, though one that's muted by her concerns about new drilling methods for natural gas that are the target of many environmentalists.

She said odors still emanate from the old ash piles.

Entombing coal ash

The remaining coal is being moved now to other plants, and the old ash pond and landfill should be closed and capped by the end of next year, said John Voyles, LG&E and KU Energy vice president of transmission and generation services. The old plant will not be torn down and may be used for storage, but other buildings not needed anymore will be removed, Voyles said.

The company's chief operating officer, Paul W. Thompson, called the new plant "a significant part of our ongoing efforts to look down the road and, with approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission, put resources in place that allow us to meet the future energy needs of our customers, and evolve with our ever-changing industry."

The company chairman, chief executive officer and president, Vic Staffieri, said the plant, "along with our coal, hydro and future solar plant," gives the utilities a more diversified portfolio "at some of the lowest costs in the nation."

The new Cane Run plant will replace the bulk of 800 megawatts of coal-fired generation as the company retires 13 percent of its energy production from coal-fired units.

Much of recent electric rate increases approved by the PSC last week for KU customers will pay for the plant, which is 78 percent owned by KU, according to the PSC. Under a settlement, an average KU customer will see about a $9 increase in his or her monthly electric bill.

An average LG&E electric customer initially will see monthly bills decrease by a few cents resulting from a rise in usage charges offset by a decrease in the surcharge that recovers environmental compliance costs, the PSC said.

Kentucky Utilities has about 512,000 electric customers in 77 counties across Kentucky. Louisville Gas & Electric has about 400,000 electric customers in nine counties in the Louisville area and 320,000 natural gas customers in 17 counties.

LG&E's Cane Run power plant helped power the local economy with coal since 1954 and was among the first in the country to have some of its stacks scrubbed for sulfur dioxide pollution. But when it came time to meet the newest air pollution regulations, company officials found compliance would be less expensive if they built a new plant that burns natural gas, as gas prices have fallen sharply amid a domestic energy boom powered by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

A natural gas combined cycle plant first generates electricity through two gas turbines — sort of like big jet engines — then uses the exhaust heat from those units to generate steam and produce additional electricity using a steam turbine.

More jobs, less pollution

The dedication comes as the U.S. Supreme Court found last week that the EPA failed to properly account for the costs of its regulations on mercury, metals and other types of toxic air pollutants for power plants.

The Supreme Court sent those regulations back to a lower court for further consideration. But company officials said that ruling will not stop their work on a compliance plan that includes $1 billion in pollution upgrades at its Mill Creek coal plant in southwest Jefferson County.

In all, the company is investing $6 billion in pollution controls across the state between 2013 and 2018, Staffieri said. He said the company was able to get ahead of construction demand, which helped save millions of dollars. Across the utility's fleet, he said, the upgrades have resulted in 3,200 construction jobs.

In Louisville, the natural gas plant also should help the city reduce its oversized carbon footprint, a measure of local impact on climate change.

Louisville's Partnership for a Green City's 2009 Climate Action Report noted that greenhouse gas emissions per capita within the metro area were among the highest in the nation for large municipalities, citing a 2008 study by the Brookings Institution that ranked Louisville fifth highest among the 100 largest metropolitan areas.

The Climate Action Report cited the near total dependence on coal as one factor.

Reach reporter James Bruggers 502-582-4645 or on Twitter @jbruggers.

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