Dogtown Wire

The Arkansas Times has an article from yesterday about the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference finishing up today at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.

The city’s buy-in of the Plum Point Unit No. 1 power plant is scheduled to come online in 2010 and is hoping to bring relief for electric customers in the city.

At that point the rate paid for our power is estimated to go from about $80 a megawatt to $45 and will satisfy about half of our normal power needs. There is a second phase to the city’s Electric Department plan in the works to buy-in to another power plant to take care of the other half of our estimated needs.

Naturally the “half” talked about goes to purchased power and does not include the power generated by the Murray Hydro Plant or the need to purchase further power during the peak summer hours.

There is a chance that the price we pay for this coal-fired electricity could be plagued by any new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations being discussed for plants that use this fossil fuel.

It has been said the Plum Point Unit No. 1 may not be impacted as much because it has been licensed to produce power by the EPA, but with a new administration coming to the White House in 2009 there is no telling.

America has the largest known coal reserves in the world and research and development programs are now working to come up with high efficiency coal scrubbers and CO2 capture systems to help make coal more environmentally friendly.

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