Showing posts with label Cane Run Station. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cane Run Station. Show all posts

LG&E and KU announce plans for two new generating stations; 40 permanent and 250 construction jobs to be created in western Kentucky

Thursday, October 3, 2013 Posted by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities 0 comments
Today our company announced plans to ask the Kentucky Public Service Commission for permission to construct a second natural gas combined-cycle generating station (NGCC) and a solar generating facility. The building of the NGCC plant will generate 250 construction jobs and 40-full time jobs in Muhlenberg County once the station is online.

Due to increased environmental regulations, we previously announced the retirement of 800 megawatts of older coal-fired generation at Cane Run, Green River and Tyrone stations. To offset the lost generation, construction is currently underway on a 640-megawatt NGCC unit at Cane Run in Louisville.  Today’s filing with the KPSC is another step to addressing the lost generation and long-term load growth.

We evaluated competitive bids after a request for proposal was issued in September 2012. They included renewable energy, existing energy within Kentucky and building new generation. The utilities also considered short-term proposals (from one to five years) and long-term proposals (from 10 to 20 years). After careful analysis, building a second NGCC at the existing Green River site proved to be the best long-term solution for baseload generation. While the details are being finalized, the plant is expected to have about 700 megawatts of capacity and cost approximately $700 million to construct.

We are also seeking to construct about a 10-megawatt solar facility costing approximately $25 million at one of our existing generating stations. This will be Kentucky’s second and largest utility-scale solar facility. Several sites are still being evaluated in order to determine the optimal location.

We plan to request the KPSC’s approval by the end of the year through a regulatory filing known as a “certificate of public convenience and necessity.” The transparent process allows the public an opportunity to weigh in. a. Paul W. Thompson, LG&E and KU chief operating officer, says the new generation will serve customer demand and federal regulations. “In order to continue to meet our customers’ energy needs and considering ever-increasing federal environmental regulations, this has been a lengthy and complicated bid process,” says Thompson.  “We’re pleased that the outcome creates economic development in western Kentucky and provides LG&E and KU customers with reliable, low-cost energy that will meet the latest set of federal EPA regulations.”

We intend to have the NGCC plant online in 2018 and the solar facility online in 2016. If approved, LG&E and KU’s generation capacity will be 59 percent coal-fired, 40 percent natural gas-fired and 1 percent renewable.

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LG&E withdraws landfill permit application for Cane Run Station

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 Posted by Brian Phillips 0 comments
As many in the community are aware, LG&E is moving forward with the construction of a natural gas combined-cycle unit at our Cane Run facility in southwest Jefferson County.

The new unit is intended to replace part of the generating capacity that will be lost through the retirement of coal-fired units at Cane Run, in addition to our Green River Generating Station in Central City, Ky. and Tyrone Station in Versailles, Ky. The reason we are moving to a natural gas unit, or NGCC, is due to more stringent Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The coal-fired units — representing more than 13 percent of our coal-fired fleet — are scheduled to be retired by the end of 2015.

With nearly all of the permits secured for the new NGCC, LG&E has withdrawn the Cane Run landfill permit application from the Division of Waste Management.

After studying the available space in the existing landfill, it was determined that on-site options will meet the storage needs until the NGCC is placed into operation. The withdrawal of the landfill permit application amounts to a savings of about $54 million, which was the estimated total capital cost of the proposed four-phase landfill expansion.

A mechanically stabilized earth wall — similar to those seen along expressways — will be installed to better utilize the remaining space within the existing landfill. No permit modification is necessary for this type of wall since it does not change the footprint of the existing landfill.

LG&E filed the landfill application in January 2010. It was designed to comply with the most stringent EPA standards. Plans included a protective liner with a leachate collection system, and it was expected to have been built in four phases, based on storage need.

Approvals or permits had already been obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kentucky Division of Water and the Kentucky Heritage Council. This latest development marks another milestone in the process of replacing part of the lost generation from Cane Run, Green River and Tyrone with natural gas.
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