The Colorado Air Pollution Control Division is taking public comment until June 27 on a regional haze compliance plan for Unit 101 of the Laramie River power plant that relies on existing equipment at this facility.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the regional haze control program for the state of Colorado, which impacts several coal-fired facilities, including Unit 101 at the Laramie River plant of the Platte River Power Authority. The unit was placed into service in 1984.
Attached to a division public notice is the compliance plan for Unit 101, a pulverized coal facility with a capacity of 305 MW (gross). The plan relies on existing systems for control of the regional haze pollutants; SO2, NOx and particulate matter.
Existing systems include a spray dryer absorber for SO2 control, a series of NOx controls, including an ALSTOM Low NOx Concentric Firing System, and baghouses to limit particulate emissions. A powder activated injection system is installed for mercury control, though mercury isn’t a regional haze pollutant.
The Platte River Power Authority is a not-for-profit utility that generates and delivers electricity to its owner communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland in Colorado. Its website said that Platte River uses several sources of electricity generation capacity to meet its wholesale obligations, including: the coal-fired Rawhide Unit 1 (also known as 101); five natural gas-fired combustion turbines at the Rawhide site; the Medicine Bow Wind Project and the Silver Sage Windpower Project; the coal-fired Yampa Project (Platte River owns 18% of Units 1 and 2 at Yampa’s Craig power plant); federal hydropower delivered via purchase from Western Area Power Administration; and purchases from the wholesale electricity market in the region.
