MSU nears end of coal-fired power
EAST LANSING - Michigan State University's T.B. Simon Power Plant will run on natural gas alone after expending the last of its coal reserves this spring.
The university has approximately 8,000 tons of coal it plans to exhaust in the next few months, said Bob Ellerhorst, director of utilities. The plant ran on gas alone throughout December, and doing so required no additional equipment, he added.
In past years, Ellerhorst said the plant would have 40,000 tons of coal this time of year awaiting the station’s four furnaces used to generate steam to heat and power the East Lansing campus. The plant added a combustion turbine in 2006 capable of using natural gas only and three of the four furnaces are currently doing the same.
Upwards of 250,000 tons of coal was burned annually at the plant in years past, he said. The last time coal was purchased was in August and all contracts to provide coal to the university have expired.
In order to comply with federal regulatory changes slated to begin next year, MSU would have had to spend between $4 million and $7 million to install chlorine controls at the plant in order to continue using coal. Using natural gas exclusively won’t be reversible unless the plant gets new permits and makes the aforementioned capital investments, something Ellerhorst said would be unlikely due to the costs.
The cost of gas, at least recently, compared to coal is also advantageous for MSU.
“Natural gas has been doing nothing but getting cheaper in recent years,” Ellerhorst said. Natural gas also generates about half the amount of CO2 as burning coal with the same energy and heat output.
Moving away from coal will result in some employees being reassigned, although Ellerhorst declined to discuss the number impacted.
The changeover also means the end of biofuel burning at the plant, since the process involved burning a mix of coal and burnable plant mass. T.B. Simon's use of biofuels peaked in 2014 at about 7% of material used. A process known as gasification could be used to comingle burnable biofuels and natural gas, although it would be significantly more expensive than the coal-biofuel method, Ellerhorst said.
The Sierra Club of Michigan, which has campaigned for years for MSU to end the use of coal, applauded the decision.
“MSU has shown great leadership among universities and great leadership in Lansing area by moving away from coal,” said Regina Strong, director of the club's Beyond Coal campaign.
“I hope the city of Lansing and Lansing BWL take note because there is an effort to move away coal and I believe that MSU move is a good model.”
Due to changing EPA emission standards, the Lansing Board of Water and Light intends to close its iconic coal-burning Eckert Power Plant by 2020, David Price, chair of the utility's Board of Commissioners said earlier this year.
Lansing�s Eckert Plant to close in four years or less
BWL allowed an operating permit for one of its six generating units at the plant to expire last year because it would have been in violation of environmental regulations set to begin this year. Doing so reduced the plant's maximum electricity production capacity from 420 megawatts to 290. The utility is in the process of determining how it will produce electricity in the future.
The university made its intention to move away from solid fuel sources known in 2012 with the Energy Transition Plan. It wasn’t until last April when MSU President Lou Anna Simon announced the plan to eliminate coal by the end of 2016. State officials were told to expect the end of coal-fired power at MSU by April 1.
Projects like MSU’s solar panel parking bays, set for construction later this year, will more than make up for the loss of biofuels, Ellerhorst said. Five parking lots toward the south-end of the East Lansing campus will be outfitted with covered parking bays standing more than 13 feet tall. The array is expected to generate 10 megawatts of power, close to 1/6 of the amount of power used during peak hours.
MSU trustees approve plan to build largest solar array in Michigan
"The great research going on at MSU has helped to bring the cost of wind and solar (technology) down considerably,” Strong said. She said she hopes the university continues to develop new energy sources beyond fossil fuels, though she expects it will take time and considerable planning.
Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1065 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.
By the numbers
8,000 - Tons of coal MSU plans to burn through April
250,000 - Tons of coal burned annually in the past
7% - the amount of biofuel used at T.B. Simon at its peak
10 - megawatts generated by solar panel parking bays
50% - reduction in CO2 emissions by changing to natural gas