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.
Energy Future Holdings Corporation is an electric utility company headquartered in Energy Plaza in Downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The majority of the company's power generation is through coal and nuclear power plants. From 1998 to 2007, the company was known as TXU Corporation until its $45 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. That purchase was the largest leveraged buyout in history. As of 2019, TXU Energy is a subsidiary of publicly traded Vistra Energy.
NLC India Limited (NLC) is a central public sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Coal, Government of India. It annually produces about 30 million tonnes of lignite from opencast mines at Neyveli in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India and at Barsingsar in Bikaner district of Rajasthan state. The lignite is used at pithead thermal power stations of 3640 MW installed capacity to produce electricity. Its joint venture has a 1000 MW thermal power station using coal. Lately, it has diversified into renewable energy production and installed 1404 MW solar power plant to produce electricity from photovoltaic (PV) cells and 51 MW electricity from windmills.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is a state enterprise, managed by the Ministry of Energy, responsible for electric power generation and transmission as well as bulk electric energy sales in Thailand. EGAT, established on 1 May 1969, is the largest power producer in Thailand, owning and operating power plants at 45 sites across the country with a total installed capacity of 15,548 MW.
The Huntly Power Station is the largest thermal power station in New Zealand and is located in the town of Huntly in the Waikato. It is operated by Genesis Energy Limited, a publicly listed company. The station has five operational generating units – three 250 MW coal-and-gas-fired steam turbine units, a 50 MW gas peaking plant, and a 403 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant. The station also plays an important role in voltage support for the Northland, Auckland and Waikato regions.
The Maritsa Iztok Complex is the largest energy complex in South Eastern Europe. Maritsa Iztok 1 and 3 located entirely within Stara Zagora Province in south-central Bulgaria while Maritsa Iztok 2 is split with eastern neighboring Sliven Province. It consists of three lignite-fired thermal power stations. The complex is located in a large lignite coal basin, which includes several mines, enrichment plants, a briquette plant and its own railway system. The development of the thermal power and mining complex at Maritsa Iztok began in 1952, but the lignite deposits used to be known well in the mid-19th century. The Maritsa Iztok mines and power plants are interdependent as the only market for coal is the power plants, while the power plants have no other supplier of coal but the mines.
Edgewater Generating Station is a 380 megawatt (MW) coal power plant located on the south side of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, whose waters are used to provide cooling. It provides electricity for customers in the northeastern part of Alliant Energy's Wisconsin Power & Light service area and service to several local municipal utilities. In 2009, it was the seventh largest generating station in Wisconsin, with a net summer capacity of 767 MW.
Tuzla Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired thermal power plant in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the largest power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is operated by Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine (EBiH).
The Monticello Steam Electric Station was a 1.88-gigawatt coal-fired power plant located southwest of Mount Pleasant, in Titus County, Texas, US from 1974 to 2018.
Rovinari Coal Mine is an open-pit mining exploitation, the largest in Romania, located in Rovinari, Gorj County. The legal entity managing the Rovinari mine is the National Company of Lignite Oltenia which was set up in 1997.
Luminant is a Texas-based electric utility. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corporation. Luminant's operations include electricity generation and wholesaling, mining, construction, and development. The company has capacity for the generation of 18,300 megawatts (MW) of electricity in 20 power plants spread across Texas, of which 2,300 MW come from nuclear power generated at the company's Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, 5,800 MW from coal-fired power plants, and the remainder from natural gas-fired plants. Luminant is also a major purchaser of wind power.
Amyntaio Power Station is a 600 MW coal-fired power station near Amyntaio in Western Macedonia, Greece. Build and commissioned in the mid 1980s, the power station is fuelled by lignite from the adjacent Amyntaio coal mine.
Sandow Power Plant was a 1.1-gigawatt coal power plant located southwest of Rockdale, Texas in Milam County, Texas. It was operated by Luminant, a subsidiary of Vistra Corp. The plant closed in 2018.
Big Brown Power Plant was a 1.15-gigawatt coal power plant located northeast of Fairfield near Fairfield Lake State Park in Freestone County, Texas. It was operated by Vistra Corp's subsidiary, Luminant. The plant operated from 1971 to 2018.
Oak Grove Power Plant is a 1.79-gigawatt, coal power plant located north of Franklin, Texas in Robertson County, Texas. The plant is operated by Luminant, a subsidiary of Vistra Energy. It began operations in 2010.
Oklaunion Power Plant is a 650-megawatt (MW), coal power plant located southeast of Vernon, Texas, in Wilbarger County, Texas. Its unit is operated by American Electric Power (AEP). The plant began commercial generation in 1986.
Coal has been mined in Saskatchewan ever since the 1850s when it was used as a source of heat for the early Pioneers in the treeless Great Plains. Today, coal is still mined in Saskatchewan, but it is primarily used to generate electricity.
The Martin Lake Line is a railroad owned and operated by Texas Utilities and hauled Lignite coal from nearby mines at the Oak Hill Mine and Beckville Mine, until their closures in the later 2010's, to the Martin Lake Power Plant and has a connection with the BNSF Railway's Longview Subdivision near Tatum, TX. Coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming is transferred onto the line via the connection with BNSF. The line was constructed as an electrified line, using 25 kV AC, 60 Hz electrification, and operated GE E25Bs and former Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México GE E60s; however, the line was de-electrified in 2011.
The Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier, often called the Rhenish mining area, is a lignite mining area or district in the Cologne Bay, on the northwestern edge of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The mining of lignite using the open pit method has had a significant impact on the landscape here and led to the formation of several important industrial sites. The area includes the Zülpicher and Jülicher Börde, the Erft lowlands and the Ville, making it the largest lignite mining area in Europe. To a lesser extent clay, silica sand and loess are mined here. The area is the only active lignite mining area in what was West Germany during German partition and contains the mines with the largest surface area, greatest depth, and biggest annual output of coal.
