Owner: Newmont Mining Corp.
Operator: DTE Energy Services
Top Plant: Not all coal-fired power plants are constructed by investor-owned utilities or independent power producers selling to wholesale markets. When Newmont Mining Corp. recognized that local power supplies were inadequate and too expensive to meet long-term electricity needs for its major gold- and copper-mining operations in northern Nevada, it built its own generation. What’s more, Newmont’s privately owned 200-MW net coal-fired plant features power plant technologies that will surely become industry standards. Newmont’s investment in power and technology is also golden: The capital cost will be paid back in about eight years. Newmont Mining Corp., founded in 1921, is one of the world’s leading gold producers and has operations on five continents. Newmont has been actively mining gold in Nevada for more than 40 years at several sites. About 35% of its global reserves are located in Nevada.
In June, Newmont placed its 242-MW gross output greenfield TS Power Plant (TSPP) into commercial service in answer to rising mining operation power costs—the company’s second-highest cost of operation after labor. The new coal-fired plant is located on Newmont’s TS Ranch in Eureka County, approximately 60 miles west of Elko (Figure 1).
1. Middle of nowhere. The TS Power Plant is sited in a very remote part of Nevada and supports Newmont’s gold-mining operations. The location created significant logistical and transportation challenges as well as construction labor market pressures. The facility is projected to reduce Newmont’s Nevada mining operations’ current cash operating costs by approximately $25 per ounce of gold. Courtesy: Fluor Power
Approximately 130 MW of TSPP’s generation will be used for mining operations, including Newmont’s new Phoenix Project; the remainder will be sold to Sierra Pacific Power Co. The Phoenix Project is projected to deliver between 200,000 and 250,000 ounces of gold from an open pit gold mine and 1.3 billion pounds of copper as a mining by-product over its projected 20-year project life. The TS Power Plant is estimated to save between $70 million and $80 million a year in power costs for these mining operations.
The facility was commissioned only 27 months after the full notice to proceed. Successful performance testing was completed 10 weeks early, and full load was achieved only 27 days after first fire on coal (Figure 2).
2. Early arrival. The TS Power Plant was commissioned in early 2008, only 27 months after the full notice to proceed. Newmont consumes approximately 65% of the energy generated by TSPP; the remaining 35% is sold to Sierra Pacific Power. Courtesy: Fluor Power
TSPP is an excellent example of the future of modern pulverized coal plant design and makes the plant an easy Top Plant selection. Newmont integrated the most advanced technologies available to plant designers in three specific areas.
Air quality control systems. Newmont took the high road when selecting the plant’s state-of-the-art air quality control systems (AQCS), which include a cost-effective approach to maximizing the co-benefit mercury removal in the downstream scrubber and fabric filter. TSPP is one of the first commercial installations of a brominated powdered activated carbon (PAC) system with sorbent enhancement at a full-scale power plant, one of the first commercial installations of a mercury continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMS) at a power facility, and it is certified to comply with the anticipated mercury emissions reporting requirements—a first for a new greenfield plant.
As soon as the plant completed contract acceptance testing, the first order of business was to run a spread of mercury removal tests with various amounts of sorbent and coal halogen additions to begin characterizing the plant’s mercury removal capability. We’ll discuss the results of all the AQCS tests later in this article.
Digital architectures. TSPP is outfitted with perhaps the most advanced digital bus technologies framework ever installed at a power plant and uses these technologies (including Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus, and DeviceNet) to the maximum extent possible for system monitoring as well as specific control functions. These digital controls applications saved millions of capital dollars in cable purchases and associated construction costs, saved schedule time by accelerating soft loop checks, and saved future O&M costs (when compared to conventional hardwired analog control systems).
Steam cycle design. The most straightforward approach to achieving maximum plant efficiency and lower emissions is to employ higher superheat temperatures. But higher temperatures come at the cost of advanced and difficult-to-procure metallurgy for the steam piping and the steam turbine. After many economic studies, Newmont selected 1,050F as the plant’s main steam and hot reheat steam temperatures operating on a 2,400 psig subcritical cycle after determining that higher capital costs—in return for a lower heat rate and emissions—were a good investment.
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