Coal Creek Station

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Coal Creek Station is the largest power plant in the U.S. state of North Dakota. Located near the Missouri River between Underwood, North Dakota and Washburn, North Dakota, it burns lignite. Its two generators are each rated at 605 megawatts (Unit 1 went in service in 1979, Unit 2 came online in 1980), with a peak total production of nearly 1.2 gigawatts. [1] Great River Energy had announced its intention to close the plant in 2022 if a new owner could not be found. [2] On June 30, 2021, Great River Energy announced that they had reached an agreement to sell the plant to Rainbow Energy Center, LLC, who plans to continue to operate the plant. [3] On May 2, 2022 the sale of Coal Creek Station and the high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system was completed. [4]

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The boiler building of Coal Creek Station is 89.91 meters high.[ citation needed ] The chimney of Coal Creek Station is 198.12 metres tall.[ citation needed ] Coal Creek Station is the third-largest producer of coal ash in the country, generating over four million pounds of surface waste stored onsite each year. [5]

Waste heat utilization

Coal Creek Station was the testing site for Great River Energy's Lignite Enhancement System. Their project, “DryFining,” created a new technology for coal-firing power plants that improves fuel quality, decreases volatile gas emissions, and reduces a plant’s operating expenses and maintenance costs. The Great River Energy team also included fluid bed dryer engineer Heyl & Patterson Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lehigh University’s Energy Research Center, the Electric Power Research Institute and engineering construction contractor WorleyParsons. The team was awarded with Power Engineering magazine’s 2010 Coal-Fired Project of the Year. [6]

Some of the waste heat generated by the coal combustion is also utilized by the nearby Blue Flint Ethanol plant.

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Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content. When removed from the ground, it contains a very high amount of moisture which partially explains its low carbon content. Lignite is mined all around the world and is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation.

Fossil fuel power station Facility that burns fossil fuels to produce electricity

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CU is the designation of a line for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission between the Coal Creek Station power plant south of Underwood, North Dakota at 47°22′24″N101°9′23″W and the Dickinson converter station near Buffalo, Minnesota at 45°06′40″N93°48′36″W.

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NLC India Limited Government of India company in the fossil fuel mining sector

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Coal gasification is a process whereby a hydrocarbon feedstock (coal) is converted into gaseous components by applying heat under pressure in the presence of steam. Rather than burning, most of the carbon-containing feedstock is broken apart by chemical reactions that produce "syngas." Syngas is primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide, but the exact composition can vary. In Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems, the syngas is cleaned and burned as fuel in a combustion turbine which then drives an electric generator. Exhaust heat from the combustion turbine is recovered and used to create steam for a steam turbine-generator. The use of these two types of turbines in combination is one reason why gasification-based power systems can achieve high power generation efficiencies. Currently, commercially available gasification-based systems can operate at around 40% efficiencies. Syngas, however, emits more greenhouse gases than natural gas, and almost twice as much carbon as a coal plant. Coal gasification is also water-intensive.

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References

  1. "Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2006" (Excel). Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  2. "Minnesota's Great River Energy closing coal plant, switching to two-thirds wind power".
  3. Partlow, Joshua (January 17, 2022). "How coal holds on in America" . The Washington Post . Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  4. "Coal Creek Station sale to Rainbow Energy Center final". minotdailynews.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
  5. Sturgis, Sue (January 4, 2009). "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?". Institute for Southern Studies. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  6. "Power Engineering Names Projects of the Year". Power-Gen Worldwide. Archived from the original on 2010-12-18. Retrieved 2010-12-14.

Coordinates: 47°22′37″N101°09′26″W / 47.37694°N 101.15722°W / 47.37694; -101.15722