Great River Energy’s Elk River Resource Recovery Project made several process improvements in 2011 that have boosted electricity production, increased the value of recyclable materials, improved the plant’s efficiency and eliminated almost all waste being sent to a landfill instead of turned into refuse-derived fuel or recycled.

In addition to nearly eliminating waste sent to landfills, improved operations will result in annual cost savings of more than $1.1 million.

The improvements include a new ferrous metal clean-up system. The system makes the metal more valuable, delivering a net revenue of $240 per ton, up from $90 per ton prior to the cleaning system installation. The processing plant recycles approximately 7,800 tons of ferrous metal each year leading to a large increase in revenue. 

Additional improvements were made to reprocess the leftover residue, allowing 80-90 percent of it to go to our power waste-to-energy plant, Elk River Energy Recovery Station, for additional electricity generation. The remaining concentrated “final residue” material that had previously been sent to a landfill can now be sold to a local metal refining company, turning even more waste into viable products.

Previously, any large “bulky” materials that were delivered to the project could not be processed and were transferred to trailers and transported to a landfill. Processing equipment was added that now allows these bulky items, such as unrecyclable mattresses or furniture, to be shredded and then processed with other waste to recover the metals and to make additional refuse-derived fuel. By shredding bulky waste and reprocessing residue, almost no material goes to a landfill from ERRRP anymore.

Watch this video to learn how the project works!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 2 that it has agreed to most of the state of North Dakota’s clean air plan for regional haze. EPA officials agreed to adopt most of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for regional haze rather than a more costly federal plan. At this time, Coal Creek Station is still subject to the Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). Great River Energy originally completed the emissions analysis for Coal Creek Station in 2007, which formed the basis for North Dakota’s SIP.  Since that time, we have installed and operated our DryFining system on both units at the plant. As a result, we have had to conduct additional analysis to appropriately reflect the significant emission reductions we’ve made as a result of the DryFining system.

The revised analysis was provided to the North Dakota Department of Health and to EPA. We are working with the health department to finalize our submission.  Upon completion, we anticipate EPA will review and agree with the conclusion that selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) technology is not warranted for Coal Creek Station and that North Dakota’s SIP meets the requirements of the regional haze rule.

The EPA’s decision approves the SIP for Minnkota Power Cooperative’s Milton R. Young Station and Basin Electric’s Leland Olds Plant but requires additional control technology for Basin’s Antelope Valley Station, which the state had earlier proposed but EPA had previously rejected. If Basin Electric agrees to the suggestion, Antelope Valley Station will also be under the SIP.

 For more information check out our position statement here.

Expanding on the successful implementation of remote start technology at the Lakefield Junction Station power plant in southern Minnesota, Great River Energy installed remote start capabilities on units at Cambridge and Pleasant Valley peaking stations in 2011.

Prior to installing remote start capabilities, which allows units to be started from Great River Energy’s system operations center, it took up to two hours to dispatch an operator at nights or on weekends, which resulted in lost opportunities to produce energy when needed. Units can now be started in 30 minutes, which increases opportunities to dispatch peaking plants. In fact, peaking plants with the new technology generated 21,800 megawatt hours in 2011.

“Previously, we missed opportunities to sell power into the market because we couldn’t get the units running fast enough when operators weren’t at facilities,” said Tye Stuart, combustion turbine supervisor, Great River Energy. The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator calls on peaking plants to provide energy when it’s needed to serve load, and to provide stability on the electric system. The decrease in time to start units makes them more valuable for both purposes.

Great River Energy recently completed a transaction that resulted in full ownership of Blue Flint Ethanol LLC after it purchased the remaining 51 percent ownership interests in the biorefinery from HES Ethanol Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Headwaters Incorporated.

“Blue Flint Ethanol has been operating profitably since it began production in 2007. Great River Energy’s ownership of the biorefinery benefits its members,” explained Jeff Zueger, chief operating officer, Blue Flint Ethanol.

Great River Energy acquired 51 percent of Blue Flint Ethanol, an ethanol biorefinery located in Underwood, N.D. Prior to this acquisition, Great River Energy owned 49 percent of Blue Flint Ethanol.

Blue Flint Ethanol is a 50 million gallon- per-year dry mill ethanol biorefinery that uses process steam generated by the power plant to create a highly energy-efficient operation. In addition to ethanol production, the facility produces dry distillers grains, a high-protein, nutritious feed for livestock and poultry, and fuel-grade corn oil.

Blue Flint will operate as a wholly owned independent subsidiary of Great River Energy. The biorefinery will continue to purchase process steam and other services from Coal Creek Station. Opportunities will also continue for Great River Energy and Blue Flint Ethanol employees to support each other with shared resources from time to time.

Great River Energy was the first utility in the United States to locate an agricultural processing facility next to a coal-fired power station. Because it was built near a power plant, Blue Flint Ethanol was able to avoid the cost of building and operating a separate boiler unit. This helped make Blue Flint Ethanol one of the most cost effective, energy efficient and environmentally friendly ethanol plants in the country.

Faced with a strong growth in demand for electricity by its member cooperatives and the need for a long-term asset to provide the generation to meet that growing demand, Great River Energy started construction of Spiritwood Station, a 99 megawatt combined heat and power plant located just east of Jamestown, N.D., in October 2007.

The power plant, built at a cost of $424 million, will generate electricity for the regional electricity market, and provide process steam to a malting facility located adjacent to the plant. When fully utilized, Spiritwood Station will be about 66 percent efficient. This compares to about 30-35 percent efficient for most coal-based power plants in the United States. Also, the plant will utilize the best available emissions control technologies, making it one of the cleanest power plants in the country.

The plant in service date is being delayed. During the construction phase, the United States was unexpectedly hit by the recession, and Great River Energy’s five-year forecasted growth dropped from a strong 2.5 percent prior, to a marginal 0.5 to 1.0 percent. Prices also dropped in the regional electricity market, and the loss of a proposed ethanol plant that would have used process steam from the plant, resulted in a challenging short-term outlook for Spiritwood Station.

Thus, Great River Energy made a decision in August 2011 to delay the in-service date of Spiritwood Station past 2012. The delay of the in-service date will minimize the cost impact to members and will help to maintain the competitiveness of our rates. Great River Energy’s members will again need more baseload electricity in the future, and that will help make Spiritwood Station a valuable long-term investment. This will occur as demand and electricity prices increase via a turnaround in the economy, and as additional markets develop for the available process steam from the plant.

Last fall, we finished commissioning activities at Spiritwood Station with successful results. In November, employees immediately started a protect, preserve and maintain mode at plant. That included drying the boiler and piping systems, cleaning equipment, moving all coal, lime and ash offsite, and site cleanup. Current activities include monitoring preservation of equipment, running lube oil systems, running conveyors to preserve the belts, turning motors, and performing other preventive maintenance activities. A 2013 operational plan for Spiritwood Station will be developed later this year.

Great River Energy has owned the Elk River Resource Processing Plant for more than a year now.  This facility processes the municipal solid waste used to make refuse-derived fuel for our Elk River Energy Recovery Station.

The plant has yet another reason to celebrate; 100 percent of the incoming municipal solid waste was turned into refuse derived fuel or recycled products in the month of October. This was the first time in the history of the project that the processing plant did not landfill any materials.

Learn more about  Great River Energy’s Elk River Resource Recovery Project:

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North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven outlined a coal ash recycling bill, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011, at a recent news conference in Bismarck, N.D. Great River Energy Generation Vice President Rick Lancaster also spoke in favor of the bipartisan bill that would protect the beneficial use of coal ash.

Great River Energy Generation Vice President (third from right) joined Sen. John Hoeven (at podium) at a recent news conference to speak in favor of a bipartisan bill that would protect the beneficial use of fly ash.

The bipartisan legislation, introduced Oct. 20, preserves coal ash recycling and also establishes federal standards for coal ash disposal. Under the legislation, states could either set up their own permitting program for the management and disposal of coal ash based on existing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to protect human health and the environment, or the EPA will implement the program.

“North Dakota handles coal residuals not only with good environmental stewardship, but also with innovation and common sense. Instead of filling our landfills with coal ash, we’re safely using this byproduct to build stronger and more cost‐effective buildings and roads. This bipartisan legislation empowers states and, just as importantly, it helps to preserve and create jobs that our nation so badly needs,” said Hoeven.

Great River Energy markets more than 400,000 tons of fly ash annually from Coal Creek Station and Stanton Station for value‐added uses. This eliminates the need to landfill that product.

Today, the U.S. House passed a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating coal ash as a “hazardous waste,” provide regulatory certainty and protect the beneficial use of coal ash.

Great River Energy markets much of the fly ash from its Coal Creek Station and Stanton Station power plants. The ash is used as a replacement for Portland cement in concrete, as a soil stabilizer and in other industrial applications.

Fly ash is used throughout the Upper Midwest to replace a portion of Portland cement in concrete production, making the concrete more durable. A large concrete dome collects fly ash produced during electricity generation at Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station power plant.

House Resolution 2273 prevents the EPA from regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste. A hazardous waste designation would add huge costs to consumer electric bills and potentially eliminate Great River Energy’s beneficial coal ash recycling efforts.

The discussion now moves on to the U.S. Senate. In a statement by the White House earlier in the week, President Obama opposed the bill but did NOT threaten to veto it. 

Citizens for Recycling First, an organization that supports recycling coal ash as a safe, environmentally preferable alternative to disposal, is also gathering signatures on a White House petition that encourages coal ash recycling and opposes a “hazardous waste” designation for coal ash.

Learn more by visiting recyclingfirst.org.

Section 169 of the Clean Air Act was enacted to establish a national visibility protection goal. It calls for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish rules to ensure reasonable progress towards meeting this national goal. It also gives states the primary authority to implement the visibility protection requirements through state implementation plans. The EPA’s role is to provide oversight and assume authority if a state’s plan is inadequate.

The goal of regional haze regulation is to improve visibility in Class I areas, such as national parks and wilderness areas. It is not a health-based requirement. The intent of the regulation is to return the ambient air clarity to “natural background” levels by 2064. In the meantime, eligible facilities must demonstrate reasonable progress toward reducing those emissions that are known to contribute to haze, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), NOx and particulate matter.

In its state implementation plan, North Dakota determined the necessary NOx reductions would be achieved at Coal Creek Station as a result of Great River Energy’s DryFiningTM system and the installation of further traditional controls. After investing millions into the first-of-its-kind technology, the plant is expected to emit 40 percent less SO2 and 20 percent less NOx than prior to the installation.

The EPA recently announced its intention to exercise this authority. On Sept. 21, the EPA published its determination to approve part of North Dakota’s state implementation plan and override certain aspects regarding the implementation of regional haze regulations for several power plants with respect to nitrogen oxides (NOx). Known as a federal implementation plan, the EPA’s oversight will apply to NOx regulation of Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station units.

EPA has proposed an emissions limit that would require the use of selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) technology at Coal Creek Station. Because NOx emissions from Coal Creek Station have already been significantly reduced as a result of the DryFining installation, SNCR would have minimal impact on visibility and is not a cost-effective technology.

The EPA is currently accepting public comments on its determination and will host a public hearing in mid-October. Great River Energy will testify at the hearing as well as provide written comments to the EPA.

Learn more or get involved. Visit stopepand.com »

If you’ve ever tried to dig a hole in wet soil, you know that a little water can make for a lot more work. You dig and dig, but dirt always finds its way back into the hole.

Workers are facing a similar situation at Falkirk Mine, the fuel source of Great River Energy’s largest power plant, Coal Creek Station.

Heavy precipitation and deeper coal seams are leading to additional work and costs Falkirk Mine, the fuel source for Great River Energy’s largest power plant.

Record precipitation has led to immense flooding across much of North Dakota and saturated soil to the point that mining has slowed. In fact, wet soil sliding back onto coal seams is expected to result in an additional 9.5 million cubic yards of soil that must be removed in 2011. Not only does the soil have more moisture, there’s also more soil.

The ease with which a mining company can access coal reserves is expressed by a “strip ratio,” which is a calculation of the number of yards of earth that must be removed in order to mine one ton of coal. Coal seams with a lower strip ratio can be mined more efficiently because they require the removal of less “overburden,” or the earth that lies above coal seams.

The entirety of the Falkirk Mine has a calculated strip ratio of 9:1. Past mining plans have involved mining coal with a strip ratio of 6:1. Currently, coal is being mined with a strip ratio of approximately 10½:1. Heavy rain and deeper overburden means more fuel, workers and tires – and higher costs.

Although these cost increases are significant, Coal Creek Station still provides some of the most cost-effective electricity in the region. The plant was designed and built with one goal in mind: lowest long-term costs. Its most significant advantage is its location.

The plant was sited near Underwood, N.D. due largely to its proximity to the coal reserves of the Falkirk Mine. By building the plant near its fuel source (known as a “mine mouth plant”) we’ve minimized fuel transportation costs, which left mining (i.e., getting coal out of the ground) as the most significant variable cost.

As a member-owned cooperative, Great River Energy knows that its membership trusts that it will find the most cost effective way to provide power. We are exploring new ways to overcome the latest challenge so our members across Minnesota continue to receive reliable, affordable power.