Great River Energy selects Headwaters Incorporated to market coal drying technology
Underwood, ND (March 14, 2005) - Great River Energy and Headwaters Incorporated, South Jordan, Utah, announced today that they have completed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for Headwaters Incorporated to market the Lignite Fuel Enhancement System being developed at Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station near Underwood, N.D.
In the system, Great River Energy will use waste heat to dry about one-fourth of the moisture in the coal before it is used in the power plant. Benefits include a reduction of emissions and an increase in generating efficiency of the power plant.
In the project's first phase, a prototype module is being designed to dry about one-sixth of the coal for one of the two 546-megawatt (MW) units at Coal Creek Station. Testing of the prototype will begin this summer, and if successful, a complete set of dryers would be built for the unit.
The Lignite Fuel Enhancement System is one of eight that was selected in the initial phase of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Coal Power Initiative, a 10-year, $2 billion commitment to clean coal technology and a key component of the National Energy Policy. The program competitively seeks commercial-scale technology demonstrations to continue and expand the use of coal as a fuel source.
The $28 million project at Coal Creek Station is being administered by the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, and managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The DOE is expected to provide $11 million for the project over its 45-month duration.
The agreement with the DOE requires that Great River Energy commercialize the coal drying technology. Great River Energy recently selected Headwaters, Incorporated to market the coal drying technology to power plants, especially those that use either lignite or subbituminous coal as a fuel. The combined capacity of such plants in the United States is about 115 gigawatts.
Pilot tests show that a 10 percent reduction in the moisture content of lignite is expected to result in a 2.8 to 5 percent efficiency improvement for Coal Creek Station, a 25 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions, and a 7 percent reduction in mercury, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions.
Great River Energy (www.GreatRiverEnergy.com) is a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative providing electricity to 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is the second largest power supplier in the state of Minnesota, and the fourth largest cooperative of its type in the nation.
Headwaters Incorporated (www.headwaters.com) is a world leader in creating value through innovative advancements in the utilization of natural resources. Headwaters is a diversified growth company providing products, technologies and services to the energy, construction and home improvement industries. Through its alternative energy, coal combustion products, and building products businesses, the company earns a growing revenue stream that provides the capital needed to expand and acquire synergistic new business opportunities.
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