MDU Retires

[guywhofishes]

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I thought of jaykay the second I saw that

and I cried

 

[SerchforPerch]

Bummer because of the loss of jobs and cheap reliable electricity. Its not just the plan site, but the railroad, coal mine, etc. are impacted as well. Man I hope you arent one of those people that think the country's energy demand can be sustained on Wind and Solar alone.

Imagine what would happen if the country lost electricity for just one day......

 

[dean nelson]

Does anyone know if there will still be the need to use river water to cool something there by continuing to produce a warm water discharge which could leave the fishing in the Heskett area unchanged?

No they are just adding a second peaking plant to the one they already have there which is a GE7EA. Since these are just stationary jet engines and do not require water for their generating process the warm water plume will no longer be there..

 

[Sub_Elect]

No they are just adding a second peaking plant to the one they already have there which is a GE7EA. Since these are just stationary jet engines and do not require water for their generating process the warm water plume will no longer be there..

Hmmm, you must work at MDU??????

 

[dean nelson]

No I just had the same question a few years ago when they put in the first peaking plant so did a little digging into the unit they run.

 

[Migrator Man]

Bummer because of the loss of jobs and cheap reliable electricity. Its not just the plan site, but the railroad, coal mine, etc. are impacted as well. Man I hope you arent one of those people that think the country's energy demand can be sustained on Wind and Solar alone.

Imagine what would happen if the country lost electricity for just one day......

Unfortunately this plant must not have been producing cheap enough power because they are replacing it with a cheaper source of power using natural gas. The maintenance of the coal plant must have been the reason it got so costly to run. These smaller coal plants are not as cheap to run with all the environmental requirements. Anyone know if this plant ran lignite or powder river basin coal?

 

[bk3]

Lignite, railed in from the Dakota Westmoreland Beulah Mine.

 

[Migrator Man]

Lignite, railed in from the Dakota Westmoreland Beulah Mine.

Bad deal. That mine is struggling already, not a good future ahead for coal.

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Lignite, railed in from the Dakota Westmoreland Beulah Mine.

Bad deal. That mine is struggling already, not a good future ahead for coal.

 

[dean nelson]

Unfortunately this plant must not have been producing cheap enough power because they are replacing it with a cheaper source of power using natural gas. The maintenance of the coal plant must have been the reason it got so costly to run. These smaller coal plants are not as cheap to run with all the environmental requirements. Anyone know if this plant ran lignite or powder river basin coal?

Size isn't everything:;:smokin but just by the sheer scale of the difference between the two plants now is pretty substantial! Red is the 88 MW peaking plant they have now vs all the rest of the main plant.

 

[LBrandt]

Bet my light bill will not go down. Have to save this info for when they raise my electric rate to pay for the new up-grade.

 

[KDM]

No worries. Cortez and her magic mind will make fossil fuels obsolete in this country within ten years so don't concern yourselves about your petty energy costs. Everything will be serene and peaceful.

 

[LBrandt]

^^^^^ we have to talk ^^^^^^^

 

[KDM]

Ha!!!

 

[espringers]

Natural gas is considered a fossil fuel. Just a cleaner one. No?

 

[Skeeter]

Why's it a bummer? We have more than enough cleaner burning
natural gas to replace it.

You better hope that all coal fired plants never get converted to gas. Coal is a contracted price for years at a time, electricity prices can remain stable for long periods of time. Gas is traded on the open market, more demand higher price. Your electricity has the potential To sky rocket and will never be as cheap as it is now.

 

[Migrator Man]

You better hope that all coal fired plants never get converted to gas. Coal is a contracted price for years at a time, electricity prices can remain stable for long periods of time. Gas is traded on the open market, more demand higher price. Your electricity has the potential To sky rocket and will never be as cheap as it is now.

But if gas skyrockets we will see even more gas captured from the oil wells that are drilled. Increased prices would also make a boom for drilling gas wells. If I was in the coal industry I would try to jump on the gas bandwagon sooner rather than later.

Coal may be a cheaper fuel but as the coal plants age the high maintenance costs may push a lot of them out of being competitive

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Natural gas is considered a fossil fuel. Just a cleaner one. No?

Sheeeshhh , AOC and the other dumb tree huggers may realize this and the war will be on natural gas next..... oh wait it’s already started.

These people don’t realize until untilities can store electricity on the mega level we have no choice but to rely or coal or natural gas fired generation. Those dummies on the east coast are going to drive their communities to blackouts if they do not quit this war on natural gas.

 

[Fritz the Cat]

Is the heskett power plant that pipes the co2 underground? I remember reading an article of a power plant in north Dakota that was the first in the nation to pipe co2 gas under ground into old oil wells then when the well couldn't hold anymore co2 it would be capped off. Would be great to see that kind of system utilized when they retrofit this power to use natural gas. Zero emissions would be great especially since we have the technology to do it already here in north Dakota

Antelope Valley Generating Station 8 miles north of Beulah. The CO2 line goes to Canada It is pushed in one well to force or recover more oil out of a near-by well. Basin Electric owns AVS and Dakota Gas. DGC used to service a pipeline to Chicago with gas made from coal. Obama was from Chicago and he never knew North Dakota heated his city.....with coal.

I believe there is cheaper gas from the Bakken going into that pipeline. Dakota Gas is now Dakota Fertilizer. They also make diesel exhaust fluid.

 

[lunkerslayer]

Antelope Valley Generating Station 8 miles north of Beulah. The CO2 line goes to Canada It is pushed in one well to force or recover more oil out of a near-by well. Basin Electric owns AVS and Dakota Gas. DGC used to service a pipeline to Chicago with gas made from coal. Obama was from Chicago and he never knew North Dakota heated his city.....with coal.

I believe there is cheaper gas from the Bakken going into that pipeline. Dakota Gas is now Dakota Fertilizer. They also make diesel exhaust fluid.

Is this plant north of beulah the one that is used in the production of liquid natural gas i read that to produce liquid natural gas they use lignite coal to produce the liquid natural gas.

 

[SerchforPerch]

You better hope that all coal fired plants never get converted to gas. Coal is a contracted price for years at a time, electricity prices can remain stable for long periods of time. Gas is traded on the open market, more demand higher price. Your electricity has the potential To sky rocket and will never be as cheap as it is now.

Unlikely. From an economical standpoint Burning gas in a coal boiler would be an extremely expensive retrofit not mention the metallurgical constraints of the boiler.. In a swing load market, Converted coal plants would be operated as peakers and likely never be called upon to run - stranded asset.

I believe Mn Power converted a few coal boilers over to gas, and dont believe they run very often.

 

[Uncle Jimbo]

Is this plant north of beulah the one that is used in the production of liquid natural gas i read that to produce liquid natural gas they use lignite coal to produce the liquid natural gas.

Yes