BWL granted state
permits to build Reo Town cogeneration facility
The Lansing Board of Water & Light has received permitting
approval from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and
Environment to build a $182 million cogeneration facility in
Lansing’s Reo Town.
“We commend the DNRE for its tough but fair and timely
treatment of our permit application,” said BWL General Manager
J. Peter Lark. “The State of Michigan’s granting of the necessary
permits signals an important milestone toward having our
cogeneration facility operating in Reo Town by early 2013.
“We are now the first utility in Michigan to receive a permit for
a modern, clean, efficient generating plant that will actually reduce
emissions,” Lark said. “By switching to natural gas and closing an
old, coal-fired steam plant, we will avoid burning 139,000 tons of
coal each year.”
The Reo Town plant will be the BWL’s first natural gaspowered
facility – a highly efficient, state-of-the art structure that
will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, compared to
the BWL’s existing steam plant.
Lark cited the various “wins” for the Lansing community, the
environment and BWL customers.
“The Reo Town Cogeneration Facility succeeds on many
levels,” he said. “It will reduce the company’s emissions of
greenhouse gases. It diversifies our fuel mix, creating more stable
costs that translate into savings for our customers. Finally, by
bringing nearly 200 jobs to the facility each day, it will be a
transformative economic catalyst we believe will help breathe new
life into an important, historic Lansing neighborhood.”
In July, the BWL announced plans to build a natural gas-fueled
combined cycle cogeneration plant to produce both electricity and
steam utilities.
In addition to the 180 BWL employees who will work in the
Reo Town facility each day, more than 1,000 construction jobs will
be created during the 18-month building phase.
Lark said the Reo Town facility marks a giant stride in the
company’s progressive stance toward greater environmental
stewardship.
“The cogeneration facility is an important step in our plan to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020,”
Lark said. “In reaching that goal, we will have surpassed proposed
federal regulations requiring utilities to reduce emissions by 17
percent by 2020.”
The new facility will also reduce air pollutants such as
mercury, and compounds of sulfur and nitrogen (often referred to
as SOx and NOx).
Combined-cycle, cogeneration uses the same fuel to generate
two different products – electricity and steam. It begins with
natural gas fueling a gas turbine to produce electricity. The hot
exhaust created by burning natural gas is then sent to a steam
boiler that can be used to generate electricity or steam.
The cogeneration facility will produce 100 megawatts of
electricity, and sufficient steam to serve its existing customers,
with the potential to serve future steam customers.
An important component of the project will be to restore and
preserve the historic Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot, located
on the property where the cogeneration facility will be constructed.
Located on Reo Town’s southern boundary, the depot is on both
the State of Michigan and U.S. the Michigan Registers of Historic
Sites. The structure is in deteriorating condition and has been
closed to the public for several years.
Once restored, the BWL intends to make the depot a focal
point of the Reo Town neighborhood.
Lark said that the cogeneration facility and the renovated
depot will blend visually with surrounding structures.
“The cogeneration facility’s design is classically-styled
architecture, in keeping with the historic look of Reo Town,” Lark
said.
The Reo Town cogeneration facility will replace the Moores
Park Steam Plant, which uses coal to produce steam.
The BWL provides steam to heat buildings in downtown
Lansing as well as to the nearby General Motors Grand River
Assembly Plant. The BWL has 225 steam customers, including
government offices for the State of Michigan and the City of
Lansing; the Accident Fund, Lansing Community College, Boji
Tower, the state Capitol building and the new Michigan State
Police Headquarters.
Three of the four steam generation units at the Moores Park
facility are more than 55 years old, and the fourth unit is 43 years
old. The Moores Park plant, located next to the BWL’s Eckert
Power Plant, must be retired within a few years because of
numerous and costly environmental regulations.
The BWL intends to have the new facility “LEED-certified,”
based on a rating system for environmentally sustainable design,
construction and operation of buildings. LEED stands for
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This rating
system was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The BWL intends to install a solar panel array and wind
turbines on the facility’s roof.
The BWL is a nationally recognized leader in renewable
energy and energy efficiency. It was the first utility in Michigan to
establish specific goals to acquire renewable energy, and it was the
first in Michigan to offer customers an array of energy-efficiency
incentives.
The BWL is Michigan’s largest public utility. 2010 marks the
BWL’s 125th year of service to Greater Lansing.
###
