Small generator, huge savings Healy coal will free millions of dollars

By Brian Newton

 

Corrected from the version published in the Daily News-Miner on Friday, September 25, 2009

 

A few weeks ago, I was standing in the security line at Fairbanks International Airport. Outside, the sky was practically black with smoke from fires south of town.

“You can’t restart that coal plant,” said a voice from behind me. I turned and saw a small woman holding a big cup of java. She obviously recognized me as president of Golden Valley Electric Association, and she wasn’t shy about sharing her opinion.

“Just look outside,” she said, gesturing to the haze-choked air. “How can you put these kinds of pollutants in the air?”

“This smoke is from the fires,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “I know that. But when you start up that Healy coal plant, you’ll be filling the air I breathe with these same kinds of pollutants,” she said.

At that moment, the Transportation Security Administration officer called me forward, and that was the end of our conversation. But her words stuck with me.

When I got back to Fairbanks the next day, I did a little research. Here’s what I found:

• It would take HCCP 213 years to emit the equivalent amount of oxides of nitrogen that the Alaska forest fires put out this year.

• HCCP could operate for more than 15,000 years and not emit as much particulate matter as fires did this summer.

• When HCCP is operating at full capacity, it will contribute less than 1 percent of Alaska’s carbon dioxide emissions. The entire state of Alaska emits less than 1 percent of the United States’ carbon dioxide emissions.

• When GVEA turns on HCCP, it will turn off an equivalent amount of oil-fired power. The net increase of carbon dioxide will be relatively small.

Will HCCP emit some pollutants? Absolutely; all power plants have an environmental impact.

Even renewables have their foes. I recently heard about a group of environmentalists who are trying to stop a solar plant in the California desert because it has the potential to disturb tortoises.

But compared to Mother Nature, HCCP is in the little leagues.

Despite these facts, some people are convinced HCCP will be an ecological disaster.

After all, it burns coal, the villain in the man-versus-nature narrative. The thinking goes like this:

• The world must curb production of greenhouse gases to stop global climate change;

• HCCP produces greenhouse gases;

• Therefore, the people of Interior Alaska should set an example and refuse to restart the coal-burning plant, even though its contribution to global warming is small.

Such a symbolic gesture will come at a steep price for you and me. Here are some eye-popping numbers. Once HCCP is running smoothly:

• GVEA will stop burning more than 25 million gallons of oil each year.

• Even if oil prices go lower, your electric co-op will save about $10 million per year.

• If oil prices rise again (as many economists predict they will when an economic recovery takes hold), GVEA will realize an annual savings of more than $60 million per year by operating HCCP.

Where do those millions of dollars in savings go? They stabilize everyone’s electric bills. GVEA is a not-for-profit cooperative. When we save on fuel, you save on electricity.

I wish I had these facts at my fingertips when I met that environmentally conscious young woman in the airport. So miss, if you’re reading this column, let me assure you that HCCP is not the environmental threat you imagined.

As coal plants go, 50 megawatts is miniscule. (China is firing up dozens of 800-megawatt coal-fired plants each year).

As a global carbon emitter, HCCP is tiny. But as a rate stabilizer for your electric co-op, HCCP is huge.

Brian Newton is president and CEO of Golden Valley Electric Association.