La Cygne Generating Station
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La Cygne Generating Station is an operating power station of at least 1578-megawatts (MW) in La Cygne, Linn, Kansas, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| La Cygne Generating Station | La Cygne, Linn, Kansas, United States | 38.348047, -94.645681 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2: 38.348047, -94.645681
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal: subbituminous | 893 | supercritical | 1973 | 2032 (planned) |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal: subbituminous | 685 | subcritical | 1977 | 2039 (planned) |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Evergy Kansas South Inc [50%]; Evergy Metro Inc [50%] | Evergy Inc [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Evergy Kansas South Inc [50%]; Evergy Metro Inc [50%] | Evergy Inc [100.0%] |
Retirement plans
Evergy's 2021 Integrated Resource Plan listed an expected retirement date of 2032 for La Cygne Unit 1 and 2039 for Unit 2.[1]
Ownership
Great Plains Energy (now Evergy) is the holding company of Kansas City Power & Light Company (now Evergy Metro) and KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations (now Evergy Missouri West), both of which operated under their former brand name KCP&L). Westar Energy (now Evergy Kansas Central) jointly owns 50% of La Cygne unit 1 generating unit and, in 1987, entered into a sale-leaseback transaction with KGE over its 50% interest in the La Cygne unit 2 generating unit. KGE was formerly known as Kansas Gas and Electric, now Evergy Kansas South and a subsidiary of Evergy Kansas Central[2]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 10,275,075 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 22,421 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 33,512 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 826 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the La Cygne Generating 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.[3] The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and heavy metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), 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. 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.
The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to the La Cygne Generating Station. 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 the La Cygne Generating Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 28 | $200,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 43 | $4,700,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 480 | $25,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 21 | $470,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 17 | $7,700,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 30 | $11,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Coal Waste
- La Cygne Generating Station Bottom Ash Settling Pond
- La Cygne Generating Station Scrubber Sludge Pond
La Cygne ranked 16th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of coal combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill.[5] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[6]
La Cygne Generating Station ranked number 16 on the list, with 2,127,000 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[5]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "Evergy 2021 Integrated Resource Plan Overview," Evergy, April 2021
- ↑ "Evergy form 10-k filing" Accessed July 12, 2020
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sue Sturgis, "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?," Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.
- ↑ TRI Explorer, EPA, accessed January 2009.
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.
