Minnesota Power has filed additional comments with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) on its Baseload Diversification Study (BDS) that was conducted as part of its long-range planning process, a process that will culminate with the Company’s 2013 Integrated Resource Plan.
The BDS, filed in February, was the first of its kind in the state and is one of many steps the company is taking to determine what its power generation mix will be in the coming decades. The BDS provided a broad overview of cost and reliability impacts of potential retirement, replacement or retrofitting of Minnesota Power’s smaller coal-fueled units—like Taconite Harbor in Schroeder—to meet changing environmental standards.
“We value the comments and input received from various stakeholders on the study,” said Al Rudeck, vice president of strategy and planning. “Community input is a critical part of our integrated and dynamic planning process.”
The company acknowledged that the study points to issues that require a deeper analysis to fully understand impacts on northern Minnesota’s electric customers. Weighing the decisions of installing further environmental controls against closing down units while factoring in the costs of replacing generation, future fuel prices and increased industrial energy loads takes detailed long-range planning.
In the study, Minnesota Power highlighted the actions it has taken to reduce carbon and other emissions, including the purchase of a 465-mile direct current transmission line to move about 400 megawatts of wind energy to its customers. In the study, Minnesota Power also detailed projects that have reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulates at all of its coal- fired generating stations.
Minnesota Power reported that these environmental investments have resulted in a 70 percent reduction in generation fleet emissions since 2005.
Another major retrofit at the company’s Boswell Unit 4—a project unveiled since the completion of the BDS—will bring the system wide emission reductions to an estimated 85 percent.
Minnesota Power has partnered with customers to conserve energy, delivering 2.1 percent conservation this past year, well ahead of the 1.5 percent state requirement.
“Meeting the energy needs of our customers now and in the future is far more complex than simply closing a facility and walking away,” Rudeck said. “For decades coal has provided the most reliable, safe and affordable electric power to our customers and it will continue to be an important part of our energy mix, just as electric power will continue to be one of the most important services for our residential customers, for businesses and industry, and for the quality of life of this region. There are no shortcuts in making the best decisions in the best interest of our customers.”
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