By Rose Ragsdale
Mining News Contributing Writer 

Healy, Alberta plants share a dream

Clean coal generation takes two paths in far North; Alaska plant still on hold

 

Last updated 9/25/2005 at Noon



Alaska's long struggle to bring the Healy Clean Coal Plant on line may come to fruition if state officials find a willing operator.

But the Healy plant is not the only clean coal power plant in the far Northwest. Genesee-3, the most advanced coal-fired plant ever built in Canada, is being hailed as an unqualified success after only six months in operation.

A joint venture of Epcor Utilities and TransAlta Corp., Genesee-3 came on line March 10. The 450-megawatt generating plant near Edmonton, Alberta cost C$795 million to build. After 2 million accident-free man hours, it was completed on time and in budget, according to operator Epcor.

Healy struggles

Healy, meanwhile, has struggled to create a presence in Alaska's Interior almost from inception. Completed in 1997 after two years of construction, Healy has been hampered by environmental permitting delays, extended tests, litigation by its original power purchaser and design changes. These complications resulted in a 50 percent cost overrun, bringing total spending on the project to $297 million.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, on the hook for $85 million of Healy's cost, has undertaken the challenge of finding a new power purchaser and operator now that Fairbanks-based Golden Valley Electric Association has opted out of the project. Golden Valley said it feared the 50-megawatt plant is too costly to operate and does not meet reliability and safety standards.

Ironically, Healy is considered a technical success. During its demonstration phase, the plant consistently met or exceeded its emissions reduction goals. Located next door to heavily visited Denali National Park, the Healy plant's technology produces substantially lower levels of carbon dioxide, carbon in ash, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to state and federal engineers who evaluated its performance.

Genesee-3 halves nitrogen oxide

By comparison, Genesee-3 has half the nitrogen oxide emissions of existing coal-fired generation in Alberta and prevents 99.8 percent of fine particulates from entering the atmosphere. It also cut sulfur dioxide emissions significantly below Alberta's emissions standard. "The trick is economics," said David Lewin, Epcor senior vice president-environment. "A lot of the new clean coal technologies aren't able to operate economically.

Further, plant operators volunteered to offset its carbon dioxide emissions to the level of a natural gas combined cycle plant, which amounts to a 52 percent reduction. The offset is accomplished with credits earned by Epcor and TransAlta by reducing carbon dioxide emissions at other properties, such as cutting methane emissions at a landfill project.

Genesee-3 dispatches a minimum of 175 megawatts of power daily to Alberta's electricity grid, using low-quality coal from the Genesee Coal Mine nearby.

Epcor credits the clean coal technology it used in the plant with enabling the smooth startup and initial operation of Genesee-3. When we engaged Hitachi (Ltd.), we had to send a coal sample to Japan." Similar Hitachi units are in operation in Japan, Denmark and Germany, he said.

Lewin said clean coal plants, by nature, must be designed to operate using a specific coal. He said the Hitachi technology, using a supercritical pressure boiler, was chosen because it gives a much higher thermal efficiency, which means more megawatts generated per ton of coal.

Healy can burn low-quality coal

By contrast, the TRW combuster technology that the Healy plant can burn low-quality coal, most likely from the nearby Healy Coal Mine, and even limestone.

AIDEA engineers estimate a limited retrofit costing $6.6 million will enable the plant to operate at a cost of 5.34 cents a kilowatt hour. By comparison, Genesee-3 operates at a cost of about 4 cents a kilowatt hour.

Earlier this year, Congress approved an $85 million loan guarantee aimed at spurring the completion of a retrofit of the Healy plant so it can begin operation. AIDEA, however, does not plan to use the loan guarantee. The Healy plant can be brought on line for about $20 million, according to AIDEA director Ron Miller.

The agency is currently in discussions with potential operators for the plant, Miller added.

Genesee-3, meanwhile is inspiring clean-coal startups in the Lower 48. "Based on its experience with Genesee-3, Hitachi got three contracts in the United States, Lewin observed.

 

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