Coal news and updates

Sunflower Electric Power's 360-MW Holcomb coal-fired power plant in western Kansas is among the latest in a growing list of US generating stations to experience backlogs in rail deliveries of low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal, shortages that have led to generation cuts, the co-op said Monday.

 

"Service standards for coal deliveries are below normal, so Sunflower has had to curtail generation to conserve fuel and manage coal inventory," Cindy Hertel, spokeswoman for the Hays, Kansas-based generation and transmission co-op, said in an email on Monday.

 

Sunflower's response to the decreasing coal inventories was not as drastic as Minnesota Power, which recently idled four of its smaller coal units at the Laskin and Taconite Harbor plants until late fall to conserve dwindling coal stockpiles.

 

But Sunflower has been forced to "back down usage of Holcomb station" because of continuing issues with rail deliveries, according to Hertel.

 

Hertel did not immediately know the extent of Holcomb's current coal inventory or how much coal the baseload plant burns annually, although all of the coal comes from the PRB. The plant was placed in commercial operation in 1983.

 

The co-op is still considering constructing a new 895-MW coal unit expansion at Holcomb and is attempting to weigh the impact of the US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed carbon dioxide rules on the $2.8 billion project.

 

Sunflower originally wanted to build three, 700-MW coal units at Holcomb with its Colorado partner, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Cooperative.

 

But after encountering considerable opposition from environmental groups and several legislative vetoes by former Governor Kathleen Sebelius, the plans were scaled back to a single 895-MW unit under a deal brokered with Sebelius' successor, former Governor Mark Parkinson.

 

Holcomb is Sunflower's only coal plant.

 

 

source: Platts