Great River Energy to celebrate 25 years of generation at Unit 1 of Coal Creek Station
Underwood, North Dakota. (August 10, 2004) - Great River Energy (GRE) will celebrate 25 years of generation at Unit 1 of Coal Creek Station on August 10, 2004.
“This day is a tribute to all our current and former employees who have helped operate Coal Creek Station as one of the most reliable and cost-efficient power plants in the nation in the past 25 years,” said John Weeda, plant manager, Coal Creek Station.
Coal Creek Station is on-line about 98 percent of the time during non-outage years, and consistently ranks as one of the most cost-efficient power plants in the nation.
Electricity from the power plant is used by Great River Energy’s 28 member distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Power is delivered to GRE's customers over a high voltage direct current transmission system that runs a distance of 436 miles – from Coal Creek Station to the Dickinson converter terminal near Delano, Minn.
"Our employees continually strive to generate ample supplies of reliable and low-cost electricity for our growing customer base, and we appreciate their hard work and dedication," says Weeda.
Construction of the plant began in 1974, and Unit 1 came online in 1979. An identical Unit 2 came online just one year later in 1980. The plant was owned by Cooperative Power and United Power Association until 1999 – when the two companies consolidated their operating assets to form Great River Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Elk River, Minn. Prior to 1999, the power plant was operated by Cooperative Power.
As the largest power plant in North Dakota, Coal Creek Station generates over 1,100 megawatts of electricity – enough energy to power more than a half million homes and businesses. Since generation began at Coal Creek Station, both units of the power plant have produced about 193 million megawatt-hours of electricity – an amount that would supply North Dakota homes and business for about 20 years at current usage rates.
Coal Creek Station has had a major economic impact on the state of North Dakota over the past three decades. Construction costs in the 1970s and early 1980s were $750 million. The power plant also spends approximately $30 million each year in operation and maintenance costs, and provides a steady steam of income to the State of North Dakota through the annual payment of $8 million in coal conversion and severance taxes.
The plant also employs 200+ people who live in and support local communities surrounding the power plant. About 85 of those employees have worked at the power plant prior to the startup of Unit 1. The impact of the power plant on those communities is reflected in the annual ranking of average wages by county in North Dakota; McLean County – where the power plant is located – typically ranks about 6th highest.
As a mine-mouth power plant, Coal Creek Station is the largest user of North Dakota's lignite coal resource, purchasing about 8 million tons annually from the neighboring Falkirk Mine. Since electricity generation began at the power plant, Coal Creek Station has purchased over 159 million tons of coal from the mine, and will continue to be a long-term customer of the Falkirk Mine; fields adjacent to the power plant have enough fuel for another 70+ years of operation.
Coal Creek Station is also committed to protecting the environment. Upgrades are continually made to improve the power plant’s environmental performance.
As an example, just this month the power plant began work on a $28 million dollar project with the U.S. Department of Energy to use waste heat to dry the lignite coal before it is used in the boiler. This will produce a high quality lignite and result in improved operating efficiencies and reduced emissions at the power plant in the future.
Also, Coal Creek Station is the only power plant in North Dakota to be ISO 14001 certified. As a result, Coal Creek Station has an environmental management system in place to continuously evaluate and improve environmental performance.
Great River Energy (www.greatriverenergy.com) is a generation and transmission cooperative providing wholesale electric energy and related services to 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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