Duke Energy to build new Edwardsport coal plant

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management granted Duke Energy an air permit for its proposed coal plant in southwest Indiana on Jan. 25, allowing construction of the new plant to begin. \nThe air permit was approved for the 630-megawatt coal gasification power plant –\ntouted by Duke Energy as a “clean coal plant” – in Edwardsport Station, Ind., Duke Energy spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said. The permit allows the state to make sure Duke is in compliance with the law, and also regulates how much pollution is released into the air, she said. \nThe plant, which Protegere calls “one of the cleanest coal-fire power plants in the world,” will be completed in 2012, replacing another coal plant in the same location. The new plant will cost about $2 billion to construct, and will result in an average electric rate increase of 16 percent, Protogere said.\nThe plant will have the ability to produce 10 times more energy than the existing plant. The energy from the plant will serve Bloomington residents and other customers across Indiana, Protegere said. \nBarry Sneed, public information officer for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said the plant will release less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury particulate emissions than the old plant because of the technology used.\n“The net amount of pollution in the air will be much less,” Sneed said. “This plant will be much more efficient than the old plant.”\nProtogere said the plant will run around-the-clock but will produce fewer pollutants than the current facility. According to the Duke Energy Web site, the current 160-megawatt plant at Edwardsport runs less than 30 percent of the time and emits about 13,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulates in an average year. The new plant running 100 percent of the time will emit about 2,900 tons of these pollutants annually. \nThe plant will produce more carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global warming, Protegere said. However, the rate per-megawatt-hour that this gas will be emitted is less than the current plant, she said.