Owner/operator: Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc.
Complying with a corporate environmental policy requires much more than just writing a check for equipment upgrades. It takes a dedicated and knowledgeable staff that’s willing to invest years of work to permanently reduce a plant’s environmental footprint. The staff of Seminole Generating Station have completed multiple, incremental plant improvements over the past decade that have significantly reduced air emissions and minimized solid waste disposal.
Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc. (SECI) provides electricity to its 10 member cooperatives serving 46 central and northwestern Florida counties. Formed in 1948, SECI was a "paper generation and transmission (G&T) co-op" until the Seminole Generating Station (SGS) was commissioned in January 1984; Unit 2 entered service on December 31, 1984 (Figure 1). SECI is in the process of securing the necessary regulatory approvals for a third unit at SGS. The new plant is to be approximately 750 MW and will use supercritical boiler technology. A final construction schedule has not been determined.
1. A key Florida landmark. Seminole Generating Station consists of two 650-MW steam units that together burn about 11,000 tons of coal daily. Emissions from each unit have been reduced by incrementally upgrading the scrubber, adding low-NOx burners and other combustion system upgrades, and, most recently, adding a selective catalytic reduction system. Synthetic gypsum from the SO2 scrubber is sold to an adjacent wallboard manufacturer. The common stack in the foreground is 695 feet tall. Courtesy: Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc.
SECI is the third-largest G&T in the U.S. based on wholesale energy sales. It owns the two 650-MW coal-fired units at SGS; the Richard J. Midulla Station, consisting of a 500-MW natural gas – fired combined-cycle plant placed into service in January 2002; 310 MW of gas turbine peaking units added in December 2006; and a 15-MW share of Progress Energy Florida’s Crystal River Unit 3 nuclear plant. A combination of long-term capacity and energy purchase agreements from utility and merchant plants, firm renewable capacity, and energy purchase agreements and interchange agreements with 23 other electric utilities completes SECI’s electricity resource mix. SECI produces approximately 43% of its members’ electricity requirements and purchases the remainder.
The SGS is located on a 2,000-acre parcel of land 6 miles north of Palatka, Fla., along the St. Johns River. Together, the sister units burn a total of 11,000 tons of washed, 3% sulfur coal each day. Most of the coal is purchased from mines in southern Illinois and western Kentucky. The plant is configured to burn up to 30% petroleum coke blended with coal when the price is right.
Most utilities have an environmental policy that requires them to be proactive in their environmental stewardship, and SECI walks the talk of its corporate environmental policy. It does so by making solid investments in SGS plant operations over many years that go beyond merely meeting minimum regulatory requirements. SECI has been successful in reducing its environmental footprint by preventing "pollution through the minimization, reuse, recycling, and reclamation of materials and products used in our operations," as the company’s environmental policy says. The staff of SGS have proven that a good corporate environmental policy backed by corporate leadership and investment will produce a plant with a superior environmental performance track record. Here’s how they did it.
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