Coal news and updates

TVA wants to keep steam flowing for local industry after Johnsonville coal units are idled

The Tennessee Valley Authority will shut down the last units at one of its oldest coal-fired power plants near Waverly, Tenn., by the end of the 2017, but TVA said today it wants to add a heat recovery steam generator on one of its 20 gas-fired combustion turbines at the site to help supplying steam to an adjacent factory even after the last of the coal-fired steam generator shuts down.

In a draft environmental assessment released today, TVA said the heat recovery system at the Johnsonville Fossil Plant would ensure that steam is provided to the local business, which makes titanium dioxide for the coatings, paper and plastics industries.

The factory has long relied on byproduct steam from the Johnsonville power plant for its manufacturing process. It is a cogeneration relationship unique among TVA's coal plants.

But with TVA retiring the last of Johnsonville's 10 coal units within the next two and a half years under a clean-air agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, a new steam source had to be found.

TVA idled Johnsonville units 7 through 10 in March 2012. In support of recent environmental agreements, TVA will retire the six Johnsonville units no later than Dec. 31, 2015, and the remaining four units no later than Dec. 31, 2017.

TVA added 16 combustion-turbine units at Johnsonville in the early 1970s and another four in 2000. These units can burn fuel oil or natural gas and are designed to start quickly. They are designed to start quickly and typically are operated only during peak demand periods.

source: http://www.timesfreepress.com