Louisiana Power Plant Scheduled for NOx Reduction in March 2004

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The Louisiana Generating Limited Liability Company (LLC) is developing preliminary engineering for a NOx reduction project, scheduled to occur by April 2004, on the 611 megawatt (MW) Unit 2, located at the Big Cajun II Power Station. The unit is scheduled to be shutdown for a 35-day duration to perform the work.

The coal-fired power generating plant is located in Pointe Coupee Parrish, in New Roads, Louisiana. With a total capacity of 1,833 MW, the plant includes three 611 MW units. Units 1&2 consist of two Riley Stoker opposed/turbo-fired dry bottom boilers, and two General Electric tandem-compound turbine generator sets. Unit 3 has a Babcock & Wilcox opposed/turbo-fired boiler, and a General Electric tandem-compound turbine generator set.

Any combustion equipment like boilers, or car engines can cause nitrogen oxide emissions. NOx emissions are the result of a reaction between the nitrogen (from the air or fuel) and the oxygen in the air. The Federal Clean Air Act of 1990 requires plant owners to implement NOx control strategies for reduction of emissions.

The method chosen to reduce NOx at the Big Cajun plant is by replacing thirty-two burners, sixty-four nozzles, and install over-fired air ports on the boiler.

The Big Cajun Power Station is owned and operated by Louisiana Generating LLC (LaGen) (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). LaGen is owned by NRG South-Central LLC (Minneapolis, Minnesota), a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy Incorporated. NRG (Minneapolis, Minnesota) is one of the world's leading independent power producers, specializing in construction, development, operation, and ownership of electric generation facilities. The company is an unregulated subsidiary of Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Xcel Energy is a major U.S electricity and natural gas company with operations in twelve Western and Midwestern states.