Hennepin power station

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Hennepin power station is a retired power station in Hennepin, Putnam, Illinois, United States.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Hennepin power station Hennepin, Putnam, Illinois, United States 41.3032, -89.315361 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 1, Unit 2: 41.3032, -89.315361

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology Start year Retired year
Unit 1 retired coal: bituminous 75 subcritical 1953 2019
Unit 2 retired coal: bituminous 231.3 subcritical 1959 2019

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner Parent
Unit 1 Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc [100%] Vistra Corp [100.0%]
Unit 2 Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc [100%] Vistra Corp [100.0%]

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]

The plant was retired on November 1, 2019.[2]

Ownership

The power station 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.[3]

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 power station

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.[4] 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.[5]

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."[6]

Articles and Resources

References

  1. "Vistra Energy to Close Four Illinois Power Plants," Vistra Energy, August 21, 2019
  2. "Hennepin Power Plant officially retired". Putnam County Record. November 12, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Vistra / Dynegy Merger," Vistra Energy website, accessed August 2018
  4. "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
  5. "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
  6. "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

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.