Hennepin Power Station
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Hennepin Power Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Dynegy near Hennepin, Illinois.
Contents
Location
Plant Data
- Owner: Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc.
- Parent Company: Vistra Energy
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 306 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: 75 MW (1953), 231 MW (1959)
- Location: State Rte. 71 W, Hennepin, IL 61327
- GPS Coordinates: 41.3017, -89.3136
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
- Unit Retirements: Both units scheduled for retirement before the end of 2019
Retirement
On August 21, 2019, plant owner Vistra announced that the power plant will be retired before the end of 2019 if it is determined that the unit is not needed for network reliability. Vistra Energy said it needed to close the plant to meet the requirements of the recently approved revisions to the Multi-Pollutant Standard rule of the Illinois Pollution Control Board.[1]
Ownership
The plant was owned by Dynegy. On April 9, 2018, Vistra Energy, the parent company for TXU Energy and Luminant, announced it had completed its merger with Dynegy. Vistra Energy will be the name of the combined company moving forward.[2]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 2,283,908 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions:
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Hennepin
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[3] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[4]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Hennepin Power Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 4 | $29,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 6 | $680,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 68 | $4,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 3 | $67,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 2 | $1,100,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 4 | $2,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011
Coal Waste Site
Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation
On March 7, 2005 the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. EPA along with the State of Illinois announced a settlement between Illinois Power Company and its sucesscor, Dynegy, addressing alleged violations of New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act at company's Baldwin Energy Station. The EPA noted that sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions at the plant will decrease by 54,000 tons each year through the installation of approximately $500 million worth of new pollution control equipment. In addition to the Baldwin Generating Station, the Havana Power Station, Hennepin Power Station and Vermilion Power Station, Wood River Station were involved in the settlement.
The EPA stated that this "settlement requires installation of four new flue gas desulfurization devices (scrubbers) to control SO2; four new baghouses to control particulate matter (soot); and operation of existing control equipment, including three selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, year-round to control NOx. The entire five-plant system will be subject to annual emission caps to assure that significant system-wide reductions for both SO2 and NOx are achieved."[5]
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ "Vistra Energy to Close Four Illinois Power Plants," Vistra Energy, August 21, 2019
- ↑ "Vistra / Dynegy Merger," Vistra Energy website, accessed August 2018
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
- ↑ "U.S. Announces Settlement of Illinois Power Case - Company will spend $500 million to reduce air pollution by over 54,000 tons per year," U.S. EPA, March 7, 2005
- Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
- Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.
Related SourceWatch Articles
- Existing U.S. Coal Plants
- Illinois and coal
- Dynegy
- United States and coal
- Global warming
- EPA Coal Plant Settlements
External Articles
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