JEA considering cutbacks

[Jason]

JEA buys a large amount of their low-sulpher coal from Argentina (I believe).  My firm met with some of the head honchos from JEA for a tour and a sit down lunch and discussion about a year ago and were told directly by the plant manager that the majority of their coal (all high grade low-sulpher) comes form South America.  Because of the high fuel prices to ship and the increasing competition from foreign markets, the price was steadily rising.

[Jason]

The success with the Northside Generating Station does make one wonder exactly why natural gas was chosen though...

Clean Coal Power Now Serving
Customers in Jacksonville, FL




DOE, Local Officials Commemorate One of World's Cleanest Coal Plants; Awards Begin Coming In

Jacksonville, FL - In a noontime ceremony that brought new meaning to the term "power lunch," government and industry officials in Jacksonville, Florida, today declared the nation's newest clean coal power plant fully operational.

At a barbeque at the newly refurbished Northside Generating Station, officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and JEA, Jacksonville's municipal utility, officially unveiled the results of a $630 million, 5-year effort to install clean coal technology in the 35-year old power station.

Equipped with new, state-of-the-art "circulating fluidized bed combustors," the power station is now one of the cleanest burning coal plants in the world. Its two advanced combustors - the largest ever installed in a power plant - each generate 300 megawatts of power, enough to light over 250,000 average households.

The plant is not only cleaner than before, it now generates two-and-a-half times more power. Using coal instead of the more expensive oil and gas the plant previously burned is expected to help keep electric rates low and stable in the Jacksonville area.

"Coal supplies more than half of our nation's electricity and is one of the reasons why American consumers benefit from some of the lowest electricity rates of any free-market economy," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in a statement issued from Washington. "The clean coal technology in the JEA plant shows that we can continue to benefit from coal's economic advantages while we continue to clean our air. Because of successes like this, President Bush's National Energy Policy sets us on course to make further investments in clean coal technology."

The editors of POWER magazine, one of the most widely read publications in the electric utility industry, used the luncheon to present the magazine's 2002 Powerplant Award to the Northside facility. It is the 6th time an Energy Department clean coal project has received the prestigious award.

In 1996, JEA committed to the community to reduce pollutants from the Northside Station by at least 10 percent when it replaced two of the plant's obsolete and inefficient oil- and gas-fired units. With the new clean coal technology, the utility will meet its pledge and at the same time generate significantly more power from the facility.

The Energy Department contributed more than $74 million to the project as one of the original projects under its Clean Coal Technology Program. The federal funding went to install one of the two combustors. JEA converted the second boiler entirely with its own funding.

Circulating fluidized bed combustors are relatively new for the electric power industry. While conventional coal-fired plants rely on large, expensive devices to clean pollutants from flue gases after they leave the boiler, a circulating fluidized bed plant reduces most of the pollutants inside the furnace as the coal burns.

Crushed limestone added to the coal as it enters the combustor captures 90 percent of the sulfur pollutants. The fluid motion of the coal as it burns - accounting for the name "fluidized bed" - also allows a "slow burn" that prevents the formation of nitrogen oxides, another air pollutant that can cause smog.

The Northside Station's 12-story circulating fluidized bed combustors, supplied by Foster Wheeler Energy Corp., are the largest of their type in the world.

To make the plant even cleaner, JEA voluntarily installed additional pollution controls. Nitrogen oxides are reduced even more by a chemical reaction with ammonia in the upper portions of the boiler. Exhaust gases pass through a "polishing scrubber" - the first ever to be used in conjunction with a circulating fluidized bed boiler - to cut total sulfur dioxide pollutants to nearly 98%. Finally, the flue gas is sent through fabric filters to remove solid fly ash particles.

The Northside Station will also be one of the world's most fuel-flexible power plants. While many older plants were designed for a narrow range of coals, the circulating fluidized bed technology burns a much wider variety of fuels. In addition to coal, JEA plans to fuel the Northside Station with petroleum coke, a low-cost, solid that oil refineries discard as waste.

As a further environmental measure, the utility installed a totally enclosed conveyor system to transport coal and "pet coke" from barges docked on the St. Johns River to the two largest fuel storage domes in North America. The contained system prevents dust particles from escaping into the surrounding environment.

Under its funding agreement, the Energy Department will collect data from plant operations through April 2004. The plant will then continue to operate as a commercial facility.

Source: http://fossil.energy.gov/news/techlines/2002/tl_cct_jea.html

[BridgeTroll]

Hmm... I'll be damned.  Looks as if you may be correct.  Though I cannot find anything to tie JEA to coal imprts  it seems we are importing more and more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0710/p02s01-usec.html

[Jason]

Those "CFB"s are absolutely amazing and the storage domes look like they could swallow Alltel Stadium.

[BridgeTroll]

Perhaps Ock can shed some light on this... I know a couple of coal trains pass through Jax every day for power plants to the south of here and a couple of trains every day pass to the north empty...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN2864651520071129

[jaxnative]

Now that's something I didn't realize.  I thought all our coal was purchased domestically.  If indeed the coal is coming from Argentina, or any other country at that distance, I can see where the shipping costs would have been rising dramatically.  Is the low sulfur content of the coal the deciding factor?

Coal is very much hated by the environmentalists and the price is rising daily.

Unfortunately, the process of obtaining the increasingly needed amounts of natural gas is hated by the environmentalists also.

[David]

Total speculation,  but Greenland energy center does look to be on hold for now. I've seen several termination request come in for most of the contractors assigned to that project, one of which is an employee of 10 years that has been assigned to most of our big projects such as this one.

[Jason]

Another thing to consider is the sheer size (land area wise) of the coal fired plants versus natural gas.  There isn't quite as much land available at the proposed site, nor is it as accesible.

[Jason]

Now that's something I didn't realize.  I thought all our coal was purchased domestically.  If indeed the coal is coming from Argentina, or any other country at that distance, I can see where the shipping costs would have been rising dramatically.  Is the low sulfur content of the coal the deciding factor?

Coal is very much hated by the environmentalists and the price is rising daily.

Unfortunately, the process of obtaining the increasingly needed amounts of natural gas is hated by the environmentalists also.

Low-sulpher isn't likely a hard requirement because crushed limestone is already added to the mix to help combustion and reduce polution by absorbing the harmful sulpher.  If a low grade coal is used, more limestone must be used as well.  Still, the limestone only absorbs 90% of the sulpher leaving the rest to the scrubbers.  The lower the quality of the coal, the more polution that is produced.

IMO, the process of harvesting natural gas is must less devestating than mining for coal.

[Jason]

Aerial of open-pit coal mine in Venezuela.




Not sure where this one is







Aerial of natural gas facility....

Offshore


Onshore




You be the judge of the impact comparisons.....








Just for fun... the inside of a coal storage dome.  JEA's are MUCH larger.

[jaxnative]

IMO, the process of harvesting natural gas is must less devestating than mining for coal.

I agree.

[jaxnative]

A division of the company I work for is involved with three clean coal projects around the world.  The projects are in Spain, Sweden, and here in the US.  Oxygen is introduced in the coal combustion process reducing the air by a factor of 10.  The greatly increased heat produced by the oxygen allows CO2 to be streamlined and captured during the combustion phase.  90% of the CO2 emissions are captured, stored, and sold for use in other applications.

[David]

Hmm... I'll be damned.  Looks as if you may be correct.  Though I cannot find anything to tie JEA to coal imprts  it seems we are importing more and more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0710/p02s01-usec.html

I'll ask around  Mr. Bridgetroll, if the layoffs don't hit my department this week that is. I talk to these guys on a weekly basis. They can keep our city's power grid up and running but dont know how to right click or send an attachment, go figure

[David]

Well scratch that, half of our department, including me was let go this morning. Sorry Bridgetroll, i've lost the insider scoop.

::delivers pizza::

[Jason]

David, man I'm sorry to hear that.  I wish you all the best in lining up a new job.

A division of the company I work for is involved with three clean coal projects around the world.  The projects are in Spain, Sweden, and here in the US.  Oxygen is introduced in the coal combustion process reducing the air by a factor of 10.  The greatly increased heat produced by the oxygen allows CO2 to be streamlined and captured during the combustion phase.  90% of the CO2 emissions are captured, stored, and sold for use in other applications.

Is your company using the CFBs??