Prairie State Energy Campus

Prairie State Energy Campus is a 1,600 megawatt base load, coal-fired, electrical power station and coal mine near Marissa, Illinois, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Prairie State Energy Campus (PSEC) features low levels of regulated emissions compared to other coal-fired power stations, capturing sulfur from high-sulfur coal mined nearby instead of transporting low-sulfur coal from elsewhere.[1][2][3]

Ken Bone, a power plant worker who asked a question during a 2016 Presidential debate, is employed at Prairie State. He is a Control Room Operator.[4]

Project

Proposed and led by Peabody Energy Corporation, the project is jointly owned by public electric utilities with Peabody initially retaining 5% ownership.[5] It is operated by Prairie State Generating Company, LLC. The first 800 MW generator went online in June[6] and the second in November 2012.[7] The project's Lively Grove underground mine was constructed to produce 6 million tons of high sulfur coal per year.[8] In 2019 it was the 26th largest coal mine in the country, producing 6.4 million short tons of coal.[9]

PSEC stated it will be "among the cleanest major coal-fueled plants in the nation"[10] through use of pollution mitigation technology, producing as low as one-fifth the levels of regulated pollutants as typical U.S. coal-fired plants.[2] Noting that projected emissions nevertheless include 25,000 tons of soot and smog-forming pollutants yearly, the Sierra Club and other organizations unsuccessfully sued to stop the EPA granting an air permit.[11]

As of 2/6/2019, the plant's ownership consists of nine municipal public power agencies including American Municipal Power, Inc. (23.3%), Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (15.2%), Indiana Municipal Power Agency (12.6%), Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission (12.3%), Prairie Power Inc.(8.2%), Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (7.9%), Kentucky Municipal Power Agency (7.8%), Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency (7.6%), Wabash Valley Power Association (5.1%).[12]

Carbon dioxide emissions

During construction the Chicago Tribune asserted PSEC would be the "largest source of carbon dioxide built in the United States in a quarter-century."[5] The company projected a 15% reduction in carbon dioxide pollution compared with other coal-fired power plants based on its use of efficient supercritical steam generators and no emissions from transporting coal.[13]

Judging that regulatory limits on carbon emissions were not likely in the near future, Peabody chose not to employ a more expensive integrated gasification combined cycle design that could more easily be retrofitted with carbon capture technology.[14] The Environmental Protection Agency first proposed limits in March 2012. The limit of 1000 lbs emissions per megawatt-hour electricity would require future coal-powered generating stations to capture approximately half of their output. The limit would not apply to existing and under-construction generating stations, including PSEC.[15]

In 2020 PSEC was among the ten largest industrial sources of in the United States. The Biden administration took office with a platform of transitioning US electrical generation to net zero emissions by 2035. At the 2035 target date the plant will still have decades of expected lifespan remaining.[16][17]

A 2021 Illinois law requires PSEC plus one other municipally owned coal power station to reduce their carbon emissions by 45% by 2035 and become carbon-free by 2045. Other coal and oil-fired power stations in Illinois over 25 MWe must become carbon-free by 2030, and natural gas plants by 2045.[18][19]

Costs

PSEC started delivering electricity in 2012 at prices well above market rates.[6] Some of its investors resell the energy at a loss, some raise consumer rates, and two backed out of the project.[6] PSEC's original $2 billion estimated cost attracted municipal electric utilities to invest and to sign 28 year contracts. However, as of early 2010 the estimated cost had increased to $4.4 billion, requiring investors to borrow more money and raising the projected cost of electricity to undesirable levels.[5][20] Peabody in response capped construction costs at "approximately $4 billion" excluding some costs such as coal development and transmission lines.[20][21] In January 2013, with many municipalities adversely impacted by the high prices, the SEC subpoenaed information from Peabody.[22] In a bid to exit its share of the Prairie State project, the City of Hermann, Missouri, filed a lawsuit in March 2015 against the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission and the Missouri Public Energy Pool, claiming that its share of $1.5 billion in debt issued to support Prairie State imposed an unconstitutionally high level of debt on the city.[23]

Peabody divested its 5.06% stake in the project in 2016, accepting $57 million for its original investment of nearly $250 million. The buyer was Wabash Valley Power Association, a Midwest cooperative.[24][25]

See also

• Longview Power Plant

External links

• Prairie State Energy Campus company web site