A major Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant, the largest coal-burning facility in the state before it was closed in 2023, may be converted to a natural gas-fired station. Officials in Homer City on Dec. 3 announced plans to restart the Homer City Generating Station and increase its generating capacity through burning natural gas. A redevelopment group also said the use of hydrogen, and installation of solar power, could be possible in the future.
Robin Gorman, vice president of Homer City Redevelopment LLC, discussed the plan during meetings with local residents in Indiana County on Tuesday. Gorman said converting the closed coal plant to burn natural gas also could provide other future revenue streams for the facility. She said the plant’s generation capacity could potentially be doubled, which would make it the largest natural gas-fired power plant in the U.S., topping the 3,777-MW West County Energy Center in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Ameren is doing the same with its Rush Island coal fired plant south of St Louis. Shut down and being dismantled but new gas fired plant to be built nearby to use same grid connections.
Plant was shut down when EPA required scrubbers to continue. Now in the midst of settlement with EPA over pollution violations. Proposed settlement includes purchase of electric school buses for the area.
Still no details on where the natural gas will come from. New pipelines probably from Oklahoma implied.
Missouri is not noted for its coal or natural gas. Traditionally power plants used high sulfur coal from southern Illinois. Now they have switched to low sulfur coal by unit train from Wyoming. Ameren’s largest coal fired plant at Labadie is scheduled to run 10 more years.
Ameren is starting to do some wind and solar but are very, very experienced w coal fired power plants. Its part of their culture.
I suspect that fully depreciated coal fired plants made them more economical than new wind and solar.
They have had small solar farm in St Charles County for decades. Have a large new one on I-70 in Jonesburg. Now have wind farm in northwestern Missouri. Missouri is surrounded by wind farms in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Ameren held back. So few in Missouri.
40 yr typical service life of a power plant implies Ameren could be 50% green energy if they had invested aggressively. Instead they kept coal as long as they can. They told our Kiwanis club if forced to stop burning coal they would covert to burning corn. Doubtful. More likely biomass–probably wood chips.