Two Units at Dairyland Power Cooperative's Alma Power Plant in Wisconsin Suspended Indefinitely

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Dairyland Power Cooperative's Alma plant will soon see its last days of operations. The cooperative announced on October 21 that it will indefinitely suspend operations of units 4 and 5 at the Alma coal-fired plant in western Wisconsin. This comes just months after a statement explaining it would implement new pollution control measures in order to remain compliant with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Alma 4 and 5, which have a combined capacity of 136 megawatts (MW), will cease to run in early 2015.

There are no plans to operate Alma once these units are shut down; however, a decision has not been made to dismantle the facility. That remains to be seen, per Dairyland spokeswoman Deb Mirasola.

Many factors are contributing to the plant's final closure, but no doubt new and stricter EPA guidelines, as well as low power prices, play a significant role. In June, Dairyland, the EPA and the Sierra Club reached an agreement that Dairyland would install $150 million in new emissions controls at Alma and at the Genoa and Madgett plants. This would cost Dairyland $200 million toward upcoming pollution reduction projects.

Dairyland President and CEO Bill Berg said that the age of the facility, system capacity requirements, regulatory requirements, projected maintenance needs and costs, fuel supply, overall cost of power production, and the regional market prices for energy were all factors contributing to the suspension of operations at Alma. This was the most economically viable decision for the cooperative.

The closure removes $16 million planned for the installation of dry sorbent injection systems at Alma.

Dairyland has yet to finalize discussions with Midcontinent Independent System Operator Incorporated (MISO) (Carmel, Indiana), which runs most of the grid throughout the Midwest. Mirasola said that the cooperative has notified MISO of its decision. MISO spokeswoman Jennifer June Lay stated that the closure of Alma will be dealt with in its usual process.

Alma units 4 and 5 started up in 1957 and 1960, respectively, and are prime examples of how new EPA guidelines are affecting the retirement of many gigawatts of coal-fired generation across the U.S., as older coal plants are hit the hardest. Dairyland's Genoa and Madgett plants, which came online in 1969 and 1979, will continue to operate, and the cooperative will move forward with its plans to install emission controls. Genoa will receive a selective noncatalytic reduction system, and Madgett will get a selective catalytic reduction system by 2015. Alma and Madgett are located on the same site.

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