TVA assesses environmental effects of fossil plant site
April 28, 2015 | By
Jaclyn Brandt
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has released a first draft Environmental Assessment on their proposed Johnsonville Fossil Plant site, which may provide steam cogeneration use after their coal plant closes. TVA currently provides steam energy to a local factory (who they did not name) located near the TVA plant, and the proposal was to look for alternatives to continue powering that factory.
TVA will be retiring their 10 coal units by the end of 2017 due to their clean air agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- and had to find a new steam source for the factory. They are proposing construction of a heat recovery steam generator integrated into one of their 20 gas-fired combustion turbines. The study looked at environmental effects both if they take no action or if they choose to supply steam to the factory from a cogeneration plant. If they choose no action, their agreement with the factory will continue as normal and would end when the coal plants close, on Dec. 31, 2017. If TVA chooses not to take action to continue providing steam to the customer, they would assume that the factory would begin producing their own steam. However, the results of that decision could have an effect on the environment that is at least the same as if TVA were providing the steam. According to the study:
TVA also laid out plans if they choose to continue providing steam to the factory. "Following closure of the JOF coal-fired units in December 2017, TVA would continue to operate the CT units at JOF and would continue to provide steam to the steam customer by constructing and operating a HRSG on an existing GE 7EA CT (Unit 20)," the company said in their report. "The HRSG would include duct firing to provide the required steam flow. Two auxiliary boilers, rated at 300 kilopounds per hour each, would be provided for redundancy." TVA found that if the customer was to take on their own steam production, they would add an additional 776,060 tons a year of CO2 emissions, while the Johnsonville plan would add an additional 705,000 tons a year. The customer is a factory that currently makes titanium dioxide for the coatings, paper, and plastics industries and has relied on byproduct steam from the Johnsonville power plant for its manufacturing process. The Johnsonville Power Plant's 10 coal-fired units produce 6 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, and is the oldest fossil plant in the TVA system. The company is looking for comments until May 20, 2015. For more: © 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/tva-assesses-environmental-effects-fossil-plant-site/2015-04-28 |