Minnesota Power will idle Taconite Harbor Energy Center next fall and plans to close the facility for good in 2020 unless the demand for electricity rises. As workers leave to take jobs elsewhere with Minnesota Power, the remaining employees have a lot to do to get ready for the plant closing.
With the power plant being idled next fall, there is a lot going on at Minnesota Power’s Taconite Harbor power plant in Schroeder to get ready, said Taconite Harbor Energy Center General Manager David Rannetsberger.
Rannetsberger addressed the Schroeder township supervisors at the January 12, 2016 board meeting. The 225-megawatt coal-fired power plant is being idled because it will save the company money and to help meet the goal of reduc-ing greenhouse gases. The decision to idle rather than close will allow Minnesota Power to restart and pro-duce electric power to maintain grid reliability if the demand for electricity should rise.
“We have to close because the cost of natural gas is so low. That’s what’s keeping us out of the game,” Rannetsberger said.
“There is a huge move across the country to produce renewable energy and this follows Minnesota Power’s EnergyFoward Plan introduced in 2013 to diversify its energy supply to one-third renew-able resources, one-third coal, and one-third natural gas.”
A new federal rule concerning the disposal of coal combustible residuals, commonly known as coal ash, from coal-fire power plants, is causing the company to haul 10 to 12 trucks a day to dump its ash at its Laskin facility, 85 miles away.
“We are working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on a plan that will allow us to dump it at our facility,” Rannetsberger said.
While the staff is steadily growing smaller as employees leave to take jobs with the company elsewhere, the daily demands of making power are still in play. Currently some employees from Minnesota Power’s Laskin Power plant have come to Taconite to receive training, said Rannetsberger, and they help to alleviate the shortage of employees.
“We will take Unit 1 offline mid-September. We will take Unit 2 offline at the end of September, then drain all of the water and follow our lay-up plans,” he said.
Those lay-up plans are being made now. They include forming security measures, installing cam-eras and lights and alarms to ward off vandals, performing environmental compliance work, general cleanup, tank inspections, covering the coal that will be left (about one boatload) to stop erosion, sealing it from water and making sure is isn’t combustible, and many other items that need attending to before closing down.
As of July there were 39 employees working Taconite Harbor. “Out of those 39 employees, eight have accepted positions with Minnesota Power and have moved into new roles,” Rannetsberger said.
Most of those employees are now working in Duluth, Superior or Grand Rapids. One employee has left and taken a job with the Lake County Highway Department, and 14 are currently looking for work with Minnesota Power. “I am confident we will find jobs for them,” Rannetsberger said.
Six workers—including Rannetsberger—are waiting until the plant closes before making any moves. Some others will be close enough to retire. As for Rannetsberger, “I am confident they will find a role for me, but I don’t know what that will be.”
One advantage of retaining Taconite Harbor employees is in the event the plant needs to be restarted.
“We have done this successfully in the past at other plants and called back or brought employees back to their home plant who know how to restart the units,” Rannetsberger said.
What will happen if the plant doesn’t reopen?
“A group from Duluth has been working on plant repurposing. Engineering firms have come in and looked at the power, rail and harbor assets. A whole gamut of things are being explored completely unrelated to making power, but as of now, I’m not aware of anything that is close to taking off.”
Minnesota Power owns land across Highway 61 away from the lake, and plans have been to sell some of that for lots. Rannetsberger was asked if that will still be done and he said he thought so. There are no plans to sell land below Highway 61, said Rannetsberger, because at this time no one knows how that property might come into play if someone else were to purchase the facilities.
One of the company’s biggest assets is its 500,000 cubic yard landfill. “We have offered it to both Cook and Lake County to look at as a landfill, but I haven’t heard anything about any decisions from them.”
When the plant is closed there will be “plenty of coal in the yard.” The last shipments will arrive this coming April, May and June 2016.
Once the plant is shuttered, most water lines will be drained and the plant will only be heated in the battery rooms and pump house.
Because the Schroeder firefighters have pumped water from the power plant, Rannetsberger was asked if one valve would be left ready to turn so the pumper trucks could be filled.
“Once a plan has been finalized we will make that decision. We realize it is a community resource and we may have to leave one valve ready to turn on for fire protection for the plant.”
When closed the plant will be equipped with a fire detection system that will be alarmed remotely.
“We will keep Phil [Bonin, Schroeder fire chief] and his crew up to date with what happens,” he said.
Minnesota Power, a division of ALLETE, provides electricity for a 26,000-square mile service territory in northeastern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin.
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