Minnesota Power is trying to be a good neighbor. It is working to reduce negative impacts to the environment at its coal-fired energy plant in Schroeder and evaluating its future in light of the State of Minnesota requiring energy facilities to move more toward environmentally friendly renewable resources, and it is attempting to keep Cook County informed in the process.
The Taconite Harbor Energy Center supplies a lot of energy for industrial plants on the Iron Range. Minnesota Power (MP) meets more large 24-hour-a-day industrial needs than any other utility in the country, Resource Planning Manager Julie Pierce told the recently formed Taconite Harbor Community Advisory Panel at Lutsen Resort on February 20, 2012.
Taconite plants use 34 percent of the energy MP produces, and the paper industry uses 12 percent. Minnesota Power’s largest customer base is industry.
The company strives to provide a reliable energy source while keeping costs down and practicing responsible environmental stewardship. It invests significant resources in anticipating future demand. “Looking forward, said Pierce, “we see growth – lots of it.”
The company is expecting greater industrial use in the next few years, which will bring increased residential and commercial use as well.
The company has been working to put systems in place to meet new federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations expected to be coming down the pike. This may include shutting down some plants like the one at Taconite Harbor.
More stringency will require more capital investment, Pierce said. Proposed new EPA rules to reduce air, water, and waste emissions are expected to cost two to three times more than environmental retrofits the company installed between 2006 and 2010. She explained that as systems get fine-tuned and emission levels are reduced, retrofits have less and less impact, bringing less benefit for every dollar spent.
The company is working to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide it releases into the atmosphere. Renewable resources in the works are wind power from North Dakota (100 260-foot towers) and hydro power from Manitoba, with the expectation that extra wind power can be banked in Manitoba and traded back when it’s needed. Not having to buy power from other areas helps keep costs down. Pierce said that Minnesota Power has been the highest producer of hydro power in Minnesota for about the last 100 years.
Research continues on creating efficient solar technology on a large utility scale.
Minnesota Power produces electricity with biomass at several locations, but that is not expected to be feasible at Taconite Harbor because the area to draw from is 180 degrees around the plant instead of in a full circle, leaving the plant short of the amount of biomass it would need to produce power at an industrial level. “The wood supply is not available at that level of generation,” said Pierce.
The use of natural gas, which releases half the carbon dioxide that coal-based energy releases, may be on the increase. Some plants can be switched over from coal to natural gas, but that is currently not feasible at Taconite Harbor because of the cost to build the natural gas line that would need to come up from Silver Bay and retrofit the lines leading to it.
The company also continues to work on encouraging energy conservation.
“There’s a lot of pressure facing coal-based generation,” Pierce said. “The majority of our fleet is coal-based.”
In 2005, 95 percent of the company’s energy production came from coal. According to her PowerPoint, “Coal-based generation shutdowns would carry significant costs to customers, including those associated with transitioning to new energy supply options.”
Minnesota Power is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
The next meeting of the Taconite Harbor Advisory Team will be March 19 at Surfside in Tofte.
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