Rochester, Minn., home of Mayo Clinic, to shutter coal-fired power plant
Rochester's city utility decided it would be cheaper to buy electricity than to upgrade its decades-old generating station
Article by: DAVID SHAFFER, Star Tribune
Updated: August 7, 2012 - 9:10 PM
The oldest operating coal-fired power plant in Minnesota soon will generate its last watt of electricity.
Rochester Public Utilities' board of directors voted Tuesday to retire its Silver Lake plant, adjacent to the city's downtown.
The smallest and oldest generator at the plant began supplying power to the southern Minnesota city in 1948, just three years after the end of World War II. Three larger units -- all coal burners -- were added between 1953 and 1969.
"This is clearly an economic decision," Jerry Williams, president of the city-owned utility's board, said of the vote to decommission the plant in 2015. "Basically, we can go out on the open market and purchase electricity ... at a lot less cost."
Rochester is the state's first major electric utility to decide the fate of its aging coal-fired generators amid the recent federal push to implement long-delayed regulations under the U.S. Clean Air Act. Other utilities, including Minnesota Power, Otter Tail Power Co. and Xcel Energy Inc., face similar decisions as rules for mercury and other emissions loom.
A consultant for Rochester Public Utilities concluded that the Silver Lake plant would need $90 million in environmental upgrades.
"It's not surprising and not inconsistent with what utilities around the country are deciding to do with smaller, older coal-fired power plants," said William Grant, deputy commissioner of the state Commerce Department and head of its energy division, which intervenes in utility cases. "They are determining that those facilities are so inefficient they are no longer economical to run, and continuing to do so would be detrimental to their customers."
(Continued here.)
The oldest operating coal-fired power plant in Minnesota soon will generate its last watt of electricity.
Rochester Public Utilities' board of directors voted Tuesday to retire its Silver Lake plant, adjacent to the city's downtown.
The smallest and oldest generator at the plant began supplying power to the southern Minnesota city in 1948, just three years after the end of World War II. Three larger units -- all coal burners -- were added between 1953 and 1969.
"This is clearly an economic decision," Jerry Williams, president of the city-owned utility's board, said of the vote to decommission the plant in 2015. "Basically, we can go out on the open market and purchase electricity ... at a lot less cost."
Rochester is the state's first major electric utility to decide the fate of its aging coal-fired generators amid the recent federal push to implement long-delayed regulations under the U.S. Clean Air Act. Other utilities, including Minnesota Power, Otter Tail Power Co. and Xcel Energy Inc., face similar decisions as rules for mercury and other emissions loom.
A consultant for Rochester Public Utilities concluded that the Silver Lake plant would need $90 million in environmental upgrades.
"It's not surprising and not inconsistent with what utilities around the country are deciding to do with smaller, older coal-fired power plants," said William Grant, deputy commissioner of the state Commerce Department and head of its energy division, which intervenes in utility cases. "They are determining that those facilities are so inefficient they are no longer economical to run, and continuing to do so would be detrimental to their customers."
(Continued here.)
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