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Mercury Controls
The Project will include the injection of powdered activated carbon (PAC) for the control of mercury emissions on the new generation unit and the existing generation unit at Holcomb Station. The Project will meet the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for mercury emissions as well as the provisions of the new Clean Air Mercury Rule. The use of PAC technology for both units at the Holcomb Station will meet or exceed all federal regulatory requirements. The cooperatives believe that the plant will be operated in a way that will result in total mercury emissions from both units combined, including the existing 360-MW Holcomb Station and the additional 895-MW unit that makes up the Project, will be less than the current emissions from the single unit at the existing Holcomb Station. These emissions will vary over time, but the draft permit contains limits that will always restrict emissions to a level that is 79 percent lower than limits set forth in the federal regulations. In 2005, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) presented its 2005 Technology Achievement Award to Sunflower for its leadership in mercury emissions controls technology. The award followed Sunflower’s completed full-scale tests on three different technologies, each of which could significantly reduce mercury emissions from western coal-fired power plants. Before these tests, which were conducted at Holcomb Station, the technical community had believed it would be difficult to reduce mercury emissions at plants firing the widely used Wyoming Powder River Basin coal. This test program was conducted as part of an $8.8 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory to perform longer-term mercury control technology testing for coal-fired power plants.
For more information about mercury, please visit:
| Environment Solutions | Air Emissions Controls |Ambient Air Quality | | Class I Impacts| PSD Construction Permit | Solid Waste | Water Use | |
State-of-the-art air quality controls The Project will be designed, constructed and operated in a manner consistent with all applicable federal, state and local regulatory requirements. The Project will utilize the best available control technology (BACT) to ensure that air emissions will be well within the standards set by federal and state regulations. Through the use of mercury controls, total combined mercury emissions from all three units are expected to be no greater than the current emissions from the single existing unit at Holcomb Station.
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