Supercritical Coal Unit Starts Commercial Operation in Wisconsin

The second 615-MW supercritical pulverized coal unit of We Energies’ Oak Creek Power Plant went commercial last week. The first unit—a POWER Top Plant—went into service on Feb. 2, 2010, and Elm Road Unit 2’s turnover to the Wisconsin Electric Power Co. by general contractor Bechtel Power Corp. last Wednesday completed the controversial expansion of the 1,135-MW power plant.

We Energies’ spokesperson Brian Manthey told POWERnews that the estimated construction cost at the start of the project in June 2005 was about $2.2 billion. “The final cost will be determined later,” he said.

In October 2010, Elm Road Units 1 and 2 in Milwaukee in Racine Counties, Wis.,  won POWER’s prestigious Top Plant honor  for operations that, POWER noted, were marked by “high efficiency and low emissions.” Elm Road is the name of the Oak Creek Power Plant expansion project.

Along with the two new units, Oak Creek Power Plant has four older coal-fired generating units built between 1959 and 1967. Four older units—about 500 MW of nameplate capacity—were retired from the site in the 1980s.

The two new supercritical units were added to secure reliable future power supply for Wisconsin, a state caught in a power crunch from 1997 to 1998. Regulators approved a $2.15 billion cost for the project and set a cap that permitted overruns of up to 5% to be passed along to ratepayers.

The project was delayed from its original Nov. 28, 2010, turnover date following issues associated with one of the unit’s boiler feed pumps. “Those issues were resolved and the unit passed the necessary tests for commercial operation,” Manthey said.

Aside from cost issues, the project had been legally challenged by environmental groups concerned about emissions. This resulted in a settlement that committed We Energies to build a solar plant and a $225 million biomass facility in Rothschild.

Sources: POWERnews, POWER, We Energies