PRB = Power River Basin
"When they began operation, the Clifty Creek Station, along with its twin, the Kyger Creek Station, were the largest power plants ever built by private industry. The Clifty Creek Station was built to provide power to the Atomic Energy Commission’s gaseous diffusion plant sited at Piketon, Ohio. The plant’s electricity output helped power that facility until the supply agreement ended in 2003." [ovec]
This power plant is owned by Indiana-Kentucky Electric, a subsidiary of Ohio Valley Electric Corp (OVEC). American Electric Power is the primary parent company of OVEC at 43.47%. [gem, cleveland] It consists of six GE units, each of which is 217.3mw. [power] The two old smokestacks are 983' and the new dual-flue stack, which was built in 2008, is 982'. The coal storage yard can hold over 1 million tons, which is enough for about 83 days. The plant was designed to burn coal from the Illinois Coal Basin. The average daily use is 12,000 tons and that generates steam at 2000 psi and 1050-degrees F. Electricity is generated at 15.5kv and then stepped up to 345kv. [nrc] I've learned from other plants that the newer dual-flue smokestack indicates that the plant installed sulfur scrubbers. The stack was built in 2008, but the Jet Bubbling Reactor to reduce SO2 emissions did not go online until 2013. $80m was spent in the mid 1990's "to modify the coal yard and each of its six boilers to burn low-sulfur Western coal." [ovec-emissions] So they probably switched from Illinois Basin coal to PBR in the mid 1990s and then switched back to Illinois Basin coal in 2013. Now they are switching back to PBR because of increased natural gas prices and the closure of coal mines in the Illinois Basin. [Facebook post below]
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| William Ross Efird posted Unit 1 Clifty Creek Shane Hollanbaugh: Just like unit 1 at Kyger Creek Larry Taylor: The story of the plant is on utube it is called twins on the ohio. James Griffith: FPL PPE 1,2,3,4 MegaHaul [I wish I knew what that meant.] Andy Siekman: Always heard these units were the same series as Tanners Creek Unit 3. Bob Miller: Can't believe their getting overhauled. Harbor Energy turning off the Sammis plant in may . 40 + years rebuilding those units |
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| Jim Maratik commented on William's post Pixs of Edgewater units 1 to 4… Sheb. Wi. [Are these units of the same design as those in Clifty Creek?] |
This Facebook post is of note because it taught me that PRB coal doesn't burn well when it should and does burn when it shouldn't. Also, it has less BTU content.
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| Andrew Shafer posted Does anyone hear know about Ohio Valley Electric burning PRB at Clifty Creek or Kyger Creek again? They just started receiving shipments of it for the first time since 2012 or 2013 when wet scrubbers were finished at these sites. Not very often you see a swing in who is using what coal nowadays. Steve Buck: PRB doesn't burn till it gets to a fly ash hopper! Brandyn Lee Hamrick: Struggling to get good coal. Heard nightmares of it. Catches fire all the time but doesn’t burn good and clogs everything else up. Carlton Crasher: Coal mines around us in southern Indiana have told me they can’t hire enough people to meet demand since coal is in demand atm with higher natural gas prices. They even fired up and did some temporary fixing to a drag line around me that sat for two years. If coal is still in high demand it’s supposed to also get a 5 million dollar retrofit. Brian Carroll: PRB is a ticking bomb… most eastern plants aren’t well equipped to burn it. Certainly can’t let the dust build up like we did with western PA coal. Wendel Taggart: Brian Carroll Very explosive!! Paul Yankulic: Brian Carroll eastern plants are designed to burn bituminous coal...mills are not big enough to handle much PRB...we burned it for better than 5 years. Brian Carroll: Paul Yankulic what plant and what percentage. Paul Yankulic: Brian Carroll Fort Martin...best we could do was 30-35% without catching mills and reject chambers on fire. Had to lower mill temps to 135 as well. Joe Finamore: We burnt it at Albright Station in a mix, it was hard to keep a fire with it! |
"When they began operation, the Clifty Creek Station, along with its twin, the Kyger Creek Station, were the largest power plants ever built by private industry. The Clifty Creek Station was built to provide power to the Atomic Energy Commission’s gaseous diffusion plant sited at Piketon, Ohio. The plant’s electricity output helped power that facility until the supply agreement ended in 2003." [ovec]
Once again, I'm saving a satellite image of a power plant because it is going to be disappearing. This satellite image also documents that it receives coal by barge. I included Big Clifty Creek since that is the namesake for the plant.
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| Satellite |
Judging by the Google search results, the reason the plant is being closed is not because of carbon emissions, it is because the EPA has decided to enforce its rules concerning groundwater contamination. Specifically, power plants are no longer allowed to dump their waste into unlined ash ponds. A lining is needed to keep toxins such as mercury, cadmium and arsenic out of the ground water. OVEC claims that being forced to close the plant "might 'negatively impact' the stability of the regional electric grid and power markets." [cleveland] But the plant is an antique and John Blair, executive directory of Valley Watch, "has said the entire plant should be retired since it does not serve as baseload power by any of its owners. Plant owners say the closure will not have an impact on electricity availability for any of the companies that own the plant or their customers." [gem] In OVEC's claim, that little word "might" turns a false statement into a technically correct statement. But the statement is still very misleading.
Also, Illinois does not have a monopoly on a power company bribing some state legislatures for a subsidy bill. [cleveland]
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