Comanche 3 nears completion
Construction of Xcel Energy’s new, highly efficient, coal-fired electric generating unit at Comanche Station in Pueblo, Colo., is nearly complete. It is scheduled to be online this spring.
The 750-megawatt Comanche Unit 3 (Comanche 3) will join the two existing units at Comanche Station to produce more than 1,400 megawatts of power, making Comanche Station Xcel Energy’s largest power plant in Colorado. Comanche 3 also is Colorado’s first advanced, supercritical unit, which means it will generate a megawatt of electricity using less coal.
All permits for Comanche 3 were received by September 2005.
Baseload power for increasing customer demand
Comanche 3 will provide low-cost, baseload electric generation to meet customers' growing power needs.
Comanche Station’s three units are capable of meeting the electricity needs of more than 1 million customers. Plant generation will help us avoid deficits of 100-300 megawatts of power between 2010 and 2012.
In addition, Comanche 3 will provide flexibility to retire two older, less efficient Colorado coal-fired plants.
Fuel source
Coal for Comanche 3 will come from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, an area estimated to have about 77 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Assuming all three units at Comanche Station use about 5.5 million tons of coal annually for the next 50 years (275 million tons), the plant will use less than a half percent of these recoverable reserves in the Powder River Basin.
Cost savings
As our most efficient coal-fired power plant, Comanche 3 will save our customers approximately $98 million during its first year of operation because it will displace higher cost electric generating units and reduce the need to purchase additional electricity from other sources.
Unit 3 testing and noise
Unit 3 had been undergoing testing recently and was generating power at near full load for a 24-hour period the weekend of April 3-4 but is now offline for minor repairs.
With the unit offline, we decided we will not restart the unit again until we have installed “baffles” to reduce noise issues in the vicinity of the plant.
Pre-work on the baffle equipment has begun. We expect the third unit to begin operating again at full load and at acceptable sound levels following the installation of the baffles. We will determine a restart date at a later time.
To help you find what you are looking for, here are some links:
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| Comanche Station Unit 3 is on the left. |
For more information on Comanche 3, visit the links below:
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| Comanche Unit 3. |
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| Comanche Unit 3 Cooling Condenser. |
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| Comanche Unit 3 Boiler Feed Pump. |
Plant Partners
Intermountain Rural Electric Association
Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) of Sedalia, Colo., will own about 25 percent of the output, estimated to be about 190 megawatts.
Holy Cross Energy
Holy Cross Energy is another project partner. It will own about eight percent of the output, estimated to be about 60 megawatts.
Environmental Improvements
Comanche 3 was made possible because of an historic, all-inclusive settlement agreement with multiple environmental and community organizations. This agreement enabled significant emission reductions from Comanche Station, and was just the beginning of Xcel Energy’s increased commitment to renewable energy and conservation programs in Colorado.
To date, Xcel Energy has accomplished the following through the settlement agreement:
- Significantly expanded energy conservation programs, resulting in 320 megawatts of demand reduction or about 800-GWh of energy savings from 2006 through 2013.
- Installed state-of-the-art emission controls on all three Comanche Station units.
- Conducted a wind ancillary service study, one of the earliest studies in the industry that lead to Xcel Energy accepting larger amounts of wind energy on the system (equal to about 15% of our system power).
- Established an industry-leading precedent of using proxy cost for carbon dioxide emissions in resource planning.
- Launched the Innovative Clean Technologies Program in 2009. The first project is the Colorado Integrated Solar Project at Cameo Station, with more projects to come.
- Contributed $100,000 to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for mercury abatement programs and $250,000 to Pueblo School Districts for diesel school bus retrofits.
Parties to the environmental settlement include:
- Western Resource Advocates, Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, Environment Colorado, Better Pueblo, Diocese of Pueblo, Southwestern Energy Efficiency Project, Colorado Renewable Energy Society and Smart Growth Advocates.
Emissions reductions
With the new, third unit, we have more than doubled Comanche Station’s power output while reducing the facility’s overall regulated air emissions. For complete information about air emissions performance please see the Comanche Station Air Emissions page.
- Sulfur dioxide levels for the facility cut by about
- Nitrogen oxide levels for the facility reduced by about 25%
Comanche Station is the first plant in Colorado to control mercury emissions. The entire plant’s mercury emissions will be lower than they were prior to the addition of Comanche 3.
- Comanche 3 has a mercury emission limit that was determined by both the EPA and Colorado’s Air Pollution Control Division and is part of the air permit for the new unit.
- Since the plant was approved in 2004, there have been changes in state and federal mercury rules. To respond to these changes, we submitted in July 2009 an updated analysis around mercury emissions that proposed an even more stringent mercury limit for Comanche 3, about 25 percent below the original permit, which was already based on a very stringent standard.
- Mercury emissions from all three of the plant’s units will be controlled.
Water conservation
Comanche 3 is equipped with a low-water use system that will use both water and air for cooling. It will reduce the unit’s water use by about half.
- We currently use about 9,500 acre-feet of water annually for Comanche Units 1 and 2, which are both wet cooled. A 750-megawatt unit with a low-water using cooling system running at a 90 percent capacity factor would consume about 4,750 – 5,500 acre-feet of water a year. The Pueblo Water Board has determined that adequate water supplies are available for the new unit.
Local Economic and Environmental Benefits
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Project cost -include transmission |
$1.4 billion |
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Labor costs |
$300 million |
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Costs for additional emissions controls on existing units 1 and 2 |
$127.9 million |
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Construction jobs |
1,800 |
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Additional full-time plant jobs |
45 |
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Total Annual air emissions reductions |
10,000 Tons Sulfur Dioxide
2,5000 Tons Nitrogen Oxide |
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Initial tax payment to the City of Pueblo |
$13 million |
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Annual tax payments to Pueblo during the first ten years of operation |
$10 million |
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Current annual taxes to Pueblo (includes County, City, special districts and schools) |
$4.5 million |
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Donation for school districts for diesel emissions reductions on buses |
$250,000 |
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Donation to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for mercury reduction efforts at Rocky Mountain Steel |
$100,000 |
Power Use
The new unit at Comanche Station will serve customers in Colorado. This includes Xcel Energy’s residential and business customers as well as these wholesale customers: Intermountain Rural Electric Association, Holy Cross Energy, Yampa Valley Electric Association, Inc, Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc. Black Hills Colorado Electric, City of Burlington, and Town of Center.
