Coffeen Power Station was a 915 megawatt ( MW) coal power plant located south of

Coffeen, Illinois Coffeen is a small city in Montgomery County, Illinois, Montgomery County, Illinois, United States. The population was 647 at the 2020 census. History Coffeen was named after one of its founders, Gustavus Coffeen. Geography Coffeen is in southe ...

, near

Coffeen Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area Coffeen Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on in Montgomery County, Illinois, United States just south of Coffeen. History The original power company built a high earthen dam on a branch of the east Fork of Shoal ...

in Montgomery County, Illinois. The plant was owned by Vistra Energy. Coffeen began operations in 1965 and was shut down on November 1, 2019.

History

The plant had two units: Unit 1 began operation in 1965 and Unit 2 began operation in 1972. Initially, coal was delivered via conveyor belt from a nearby coal mine. Formerly, the plant had low-sulfur coal delivered from the Powder River Basin. The plant was cooled by Coffeen Lake which was built to support the power plant in mind. Formerly ran by

Central Illinois Public Service Company The Central Illinois Public Service Company was an electric streetcar holding company and power utility first organized in 1902. Under its later quarter billion dollar holding company, CIPSCO Inc. (formerly ), it merged in 1997 with the larger neigh ...

and later Ameren, Ameren sold the plant to current owner Dynegy in 2013. In 2018, Vistra Energy would assume control of Coffeen following its merger with Dynegy. In August 2019, Vistra Energy announced they were shutting down Coffeen by the end of the year in order to meet new revisions under the Multi-Pollutant Standard Rule set by the Illinois Pollution Control Board.

Environmental mitigation

Coffeen replaced its treatment system in 2009 that reduced chemical discharge into the lake by 35%. The plant went through several mid-life updates with the installation of

sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...

() scrubbers in 2010 and the replacement of

cyclones In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

in 2011.

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

's division of Hitachi Power Systems were contracted to manufacture the scrubbers. The scrubber installations were to comply with the State of Illinois' Multi-Pollutant Standards (MPS) set in 2006.

References

Energy infrastructure completed in 1965 Energy infrastructure completed in 1972 Buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Illinois Former coal-fired power stations in Illinois 1965 establishments in Illinois 2019 disestablishments in Illinois Vistra Corp {{US-powerstation-stub

History

Environmental mitigation

See also

References