HU power plant going offline for maintenance, new equipment
Work that will take place during a planned outage of Whelan Energy Center's Unit 1 in October will bring the coal-fired power plant one step closer to compliance with environmental regulations.
Hastings Utilities manager Marv Schultes said the outage at the center east of Hastings on U.S. Highway 6 is set to start the second week of October and last six to eight weeks. Besides doing a five-year maintenance overhaul, workers will install equipment to help lower the amount of nitrogen oxide Unit 1 produces.
Schultes said the project — installation of the low nitrous oxide burners — will cost close to $4 million between materials and labor. But complying with all parts of the Environmental Protection Agency's cross-state air pollution rule will cost far more than that. Early estimates put the cost to HU at $35-$39 million, but HU believes that cost will be less now that the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the rule, saying power plants didn't have enough time to complete upgrades before the rule was to take effect.
HU is going ahead with the changes to WEC1, however, believing the EPA pollution rule eventually will be put into place.
Work that will take place during a planned outage of Whelan Energy Center's Unit 1 in October will bring the coal-fired power plant one step closer to compliance with environmental regulations.
Hastings Utilities manager Marv Schultes said the outage at the center east of Hastings on U.S. Highway 6 is set to start the second week of October and last six to eight weeks. Besides doing a five-year maintenance overhaul, workers will install equipment to help lower the amount of nitrogen oxide Unit 1 produces.
Schultes said the project — installation of the low nitrous oxide burners — will cost close to $4 million between materials and labor. But complying with all parts of the Environmental Protection Agency's cross-state air pollution rule will cost far more than that. Early estimates put the cost to HU at $35-$39 million, but HU believes that cost will be less now that the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the rule, saying power plants didn't have enough time to complete upgrades before the rule was to take effect.
HU is going ahead with the changes to WEC1, however, believing the EPA pollution rule eventually will be put into place.
To read more, see Thursday's Hastings Tribune or the Tribune e-edition.>>>
