University looks at expanding use of Illinois coal
The University hopes to save money and dramatically boost the use of Illinois coal by expanding the campus power plant.
Phillip S. Gatton, director of plant and service operations, presented a proposal that is in its initial stages to the SIU Board of Trustees April 11.
The University's power plant generates 3 megawatts of electricity, which is 15 percent of the amount required to power the main campus. The University purchases the rest from other suppliers, primarily AmerenCIPS. Most of the power generated on campus comes from a state-of-the-art circulating fluidized bed boiler (CFB) that burns high-sulfur Illinois coal cleanly. The power plant also uses a gas boiler and two 40-year-old stoker boilers; the stoker boilers provide peak load capacity and emergency steam generation.
However, the stoker boilers are very unreliable, Gatton said, noting, "They typically are not even up and running for more than a week at a time."
In addition, changes to federal emissions standards in 2006 may force the University to take the units out of service. The gas boiler, now used for emergency steam generation, would be used during peaking situations, leaving the power plant without any emergency backup.
The University would like to replace the old boilers with one CFB boiler. Gatton said additional benefits would include tripling the amount of Southern Illinois coal burned at the power plant and making the existing gas boiler virtually unnecessary except in a major emergency. The University would then add facilities that are not on the main power distribution grid -- the Northwest Annex, Stone Center and some outlying buildings -- to the system.
The University would build the addition adjacent to the existing power plant on U.S. 51 and raze several existing structures, including its fire station and laundry building. A silo would protect the coal from wet weather and eliminate any concerns about coal yard run-off. Motorists no longer would see piles of coal as they pass the power plant.
The cost is estimated at $52 million to $53 million, with construction taking four to five years. Given current campus building needs and the length of time for the state approval process for capital projects, campus officials want to pursue supplementary funding through two sources. Gatton's office will request $5 million from the Clean Coal Review Board, which oversees $25 million donated to the University in March 2000 by Commonwealth Edison to boost the marketability of Illinois' high-sulfur coal.
In addition, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs has a total of $1.95 million available in infrastructure funds this fiscal year and next year.
Officials hope legislative support and funding through Gov. George H. Ryan's coal initiative will generate an additional $14.2 million.
Gatton said the University could issue certificates of performance, which are similar to bonds, to cover the remaining construction costs and use energy savings realized on campus to pay off the debt.
The expansion will create between 300 and 350 construction jobs and increase Illinois coal usage by 90,000 tons a year. The project also may increase the use of Southern Illinois limestone. The power plant imports limestone -- which "scrubs" the coal in the CFB boiler -- from Missouri. Using Southern Illinois limestone generates a savings in transportation.
"If we can't find a way to use the limestone they are producing now, then maybe we can do our own limestone crushing on campus," Gatton said.
He is confident all the advantages make the expansion of the power plant a viable project.
"I feel very comfortable that provided we can get enough supplemental state funding, this expansion will result in long-term electrical savings for the University," he said. "It will give us stable electrical costs; we won't have to rely on the volatility of the gas industry."
- Tom Woolf
May 1, 2002