Sioux Power Plant

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Sioux Power Plant is an operating power station of at least 1099-megawatts (MW) in West Alton, St Charles, Missouri, United States.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Sioux Power Plant West Alton, St Charles, Missouri, United States 38.914656, -90.288517 (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: 38.914656, -90.288517

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology Start year Retired year
Unit 1 operating coal: bituminous 549.7 supercritical 1967 2030 (planned)
Unit 2 operating coal: bituminous 549.7 supercritical 1968 2030 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner Parent
Unit 1 Union Electric Co [100%] Ameren Corp [100.0%]
Unit 2 Union Electric Co [100%] Ameren Corp [100.0%]

Plant Retirement

On October 1, 2014, Ameren filed an integrated resource plan with the Missouri Public Service Commission that indicates a plan to close the Sioux plant no later than 2033, in part to comply with the EPA Clean Air Act Section 111(d) requirements.[1]

In October 2020, Ameren said its Sioux Power Plant would now retire in 2028.[2]

In June 2022, Ameren pushed the planned retirement to 2030.[3]

Emissions Data

  • 2006 CO2 Emissions: 6,273,478 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions: 44,148 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
  • 2006 NOx Emissions: 7,340 tons
  • 2005 Mercury Emissions: 367 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Sioux Power Plant

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 the Sioux Power Plant

Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 95 $700,000,000
Heart attacks 150 $16,000,000
Asthma attacks 1,600 $84,000
Hospital admissions 68 $1,600,000
Chronic bronchitis 59 $26,000,000
Asthma ER visits 100 $38,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Coal Waste Site

Sioux ranked 95th 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.[6] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[7]

Sioux Power Plant ranked number 95 on the list, with 226,193 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[6]

Articles and Resources

References

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.