Pawnee, IL: 1967-2027 1,319mw Kincaid Generating Plant

(Satellite)

Most power plants are built near a body of water and haul in their coal. ComEd built this plant near Peabody Coal Mine #10, and they built the Sangchris Lake Dam to create a nearby body of water. This plant was initially 1,120mw. [nytimes] A more recent rating is 1,319mw. [clui]  The owner is now Dynegy, which is owned by Vistra Energy. [gem] It can run on natural gas as well as subbituminous coal. It is a baseline plant, and it generated 5,692,380mwh. [power-technology] The $100m cost in 1967 would be worth $734m in today's (pre-COVID inflation) money. The initial two units were rated at 625mw. Today's hydrogen-cooled Westinghouse generators "are rated at 733MVA at 20kV making 660 megawatts of power." Two 345kv transmission lines carry most of the power to northeast Illinois. But there are another two 345kv lines that connect to Ameren in Pawnee and Pana, IL. [IBEWlocal15] This plant is connected to the PJM Interconnection region rather than the Midcontinent ISO market. The plant is equipped with nitrogen, particulate and sulfur controls. [SPglobal]

epa-il, 2009

"Kincaid Station was originally a mine-mouth plant to be supplied solely by Peabody Coal Company Mine No 10. Over 65 million tons of Peabody coal had been burned at Kincaid Station before pollution concerns forced the plant  to switch to low sulfur high BTU western coal in 1995.  In 1999 both units at Kincaid Station were converted to 100% low sulfur, low BTU Powder River Basin (PRB) coal. The switch to PRB coal resulted in no reduced megawatt capacity to either unit. Kincaid Station consumes approximately four million tons of PRB coal annually." [IBEWlocal15] I'm sure it is not a coincidence that Peabody #10 closed in 1994.

In the 21st Century, the EPA has cleaned up much of the air pollution from power plants that existed in the 1960s, but it is still working on cleaning up toxic substance pollution. In this case they have detected boron and selenium in the ground water that are above federal advisory levels. [ashtracker]

TailorvilleDailyNews
Kincaid Power Plant to Shut Down
"The Kincaid Power Plant run by Vistra energy will be closing its doors by 2027 as Vistra announced closures in Illinois and Ohio. In a statement released by Vistra, 'These plants, especially those operating in the irreparably dysfunctional MISO market, remain economically challenged. Today’s retirement announcements are also prompted by upcoming Environmental Protection Agency filing deadlines, which require either significant capital expenditures for compliance or retirement declarations.' "

Erin Carter posted, cropped
Spent the first part of this week at Kincaid, just south of Springfield, IL, for emergency repairs. Should be running or pretty close to coming back online by now. When I left Wednesday night [Jan 18, 2023], looked like 2 coal trains were waiting and 1 in the process of dumping at the conveyor.
Alex Wood: It’s still hard for me to believe this one lives while Joppa sits dead.
Bill Stephan: Built by ComED as a mine mouth station. Cant burn Illinois coal anymore... too dirty.
Scott Laugel: I worked at Newton and had the opportunity to visit Kincaid a few times. Their dumper set across the highway and the coal was conveyed over the highway to the plant.