Babcock & Wilcox to Help With Fuel Switch at Michigan Coal Plant

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Babcock & Wilcox (NYSE:BW) (B&W) (Akron, Ohio) will help Michigan avoid some 550,000 tons of CO2 annually by converting a former coal-powered plant to run on biomass.

B&W said Monday it was granted a limited notice to proceed from NorthStar Clean Energy to start the work necessary to convert a former coal-fired powered plant in Filer City, Michigan, to run on biomass.

Filer City is in southwestern Manistee County, near the 540,000-acre Manistee National Forest.

For NorthStar, B&W will start work on a conversion process that includes adding carbon capture and storage to the facility, sequestering an estimated 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year at its peak capacity.

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Jimmy Morgan, the chief operating officer at B&W, said pairing biomass with carbon storage is a unique option for staving off further greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time providing a cleaner source of energy.

"As regulations require plant owners to significantly reduce or eliminate greenhouse gases from their coal-fired power generating assets, fuel-switching paired with CO2 capture can allow these assets to continue to provide economical and reliable baseload energy for many years to come," he added.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a series of rules last month that would force some coal operations to cease, while the Interior Department proposed ending new leases on public-owned reserves such as the Powder River Basin.

Coal-fired power is fading from the grid as more alternative forms of energy and natural gas come online during the so-called energy transition. The U.S. grid relied on coal-fired power for 28% of its energy in 2018, but it's only expected to take a 17% share this year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA also expects domestic coal production to decline by 14% from year-ago levels to average around 500 million short tons. Coal ranks third on the Michigan grid, behind natural gas and nuclear power, respectively.

A hydroelectric facility on the coast of Lake Michigan in the state's lower peninsula, meanwhile, is the 10th-largest in the nation. The state realized significant job growth as well as new and cleaner forms of energy came on the grid.

Michigan has a goal of reaching 100% carbon neutrality by 2050, though it ranks 11th in the nation in terms of peak coal-fired power capacity and 16th in the nation for total CO2 emissions. Last month, Governor Gretchen Whitmer said more was possible with support from federal programs.

"Michigan is committed to lead the future of clean energy and climate action so we can lower utility costs for families, create good-paying jobs, and grow our advanced manufacturing economy," she said.

The Filer began operations in 1990.

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