Take a tour! Jerry Groskreutz was one of the many people who toured our electric power plant, Coal Creek Station by Underwood North Dakota, (50 miles north of Bismarck). Jerry wrote about what he saw, in his weekly newspaper column in the Faribault Daily News. This story was published July 11, 1999.
100 mega watt Coal Creek Station at Underwood North Dakota

There are a few events in history that have had a big impact in shaping agriculture as we know it. One often overlooked is when electricity came to rural areas. Think what Agriculture was like before the Rural Electrical Act. We have heard for years about the exodus of people from rural areas to cities. This would not have happened without electricity, these people would be needed to provide manual labor. Recently I toured a modern power plant. I went with a group of members from Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric to Coal Creek Station by Underwood, North Dakota.

Inside Coal Creek Station, SWCE members tour the facility.

Coal Creek Station is owned by Great River Energy. Great River Energy is a group of 29 power cooperatives including Steele- Waseca. Coal Creek provides power for more than one-half of rural Minnesota. Unit#1 came on-line in 1979, unit#2 in 1981. Total generating capacity is 1,100 mega watts, large even by todays standards. Lignite coal was selected as an energy source because of its abundance and low cost. An estimated 652 million tons of lignite coal are available in the coalfields adjacent to the plant, enough for more than 100 years of operation. The plant was located next to the coal because it is more economical to transport electricity than haul coal.

The drag line hauls 120 yeards in every bucket at Falkirk Mine.

When you see this power plant, the shear size is amazing. The steam generator building is 295 feet tall. The furnaces are 43 feet wide, 96 feet long, and 205 feet high. Water is super heated as it runs through pipes lining the walls. It is super heated to more than 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, then released as high-pressure steam into the turbine generators. With most of its energy spent powering the turbines, low-pressure steam and water are recaptured, cooled, condensed and eventually sent back to the boilers. These two massive furnaces consume 950 tons of coal per hour.

Hauling the Coal

Burning 950 ton of coal per hour you would expect a lot of smoke coming from the 650 foot smoke stacks. That is not the case! To date more than 160 million dollars has been spent to equip the plant with the best technology to protect the environment. Electrostatic precipitators remove in excess of 99.5 percent of the fly ash. Combustion engineering wet line counter current spray towers remove 90 percent of the sulfur dioxide from 60 percent of the gas.

A real perspective of how the "open" mine looks, to reach the seam of coal at Falkirk Mine.

The Falkirk Mining Company provides the coal for Coal Creek. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the North American Coal Company, with the purpose of holding coal reserves and designing, constructing, and operating the surface mining complex. A 35-year coal sales agreement was executed between Falkirk and Coal Creek to provide over seven million tons of lignite coal annually. Before one ton of coal is mined eight Federal, State and Local authorities review the mine permits.

"Hey" dad these tires are BIG on this 160 yard dump truck!

Once permits are granted mining can proceed. First topsoil is removed and stockpiled by giant earthmovers. Then Chief Iron Side, an electric powered walking dragline, removes the overburden to expose the coal seam. This is the most impressive machine I have ever seen. It weighs 13 and one-half million pounds. The base is as large as a baseball diamond, the boom is 215 feet tall, the bucket alone weighs 250,000 pounds. With 120 yards of overburden it weighs in at almost 600,000 pounds. With the coal seam exposed it can be loaded into coal trucks (160 tons at a time) and hauled to the processing facility. Here it is ground into a fine powder making it ready for the furnaces. Falkirks work is not finished just because the coal has been removed. Using G.P.S. technology the land is restored to its original state. We saw restored wetlands, grazing land, and even a golf course. After seeing the power plant and mining operation I came away with the impression that they can produce the power our society demands while still protecting the environment.

Coal Creek Tour Group June 1999

 

During peak energy demand Power Cooperatives may not have excess capacity to meet the demand. They would then be forced to buy power on the open market, which is very expensive. Power Cooperatives have Load Management programs to deal with peak demand times. We all need to take advantage of these programs; in fact Power Cooperatives will pay us to do so. If we allow them to shut off our hot water heaters and air-conditioners for a short period of time we can get a discount on our electric bill. They even have programs for large members. For example, most large dairy farms have diesel powered stand-by generators. If Dairymen agree to take their whole operation off line during peak demand times they can save hundreds of dollars per month!

My how things have changed, not only in how electricity is generated, but also in how Cooperatives work with members. No longer is a Power Cooperative just someone who is responsible for making sure electricity is there when we hit the switch and sending a monthly bill.

If you are interested in getting information on next year's Coal Creek tour e-mail swce@swce.coop or call the SWCE office at 507-451-7340.