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High Bridge Combined Cycle Project
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High Bridge plant
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New High Bridge plant operational
The new natural gas-fired combined cycle High Bridge generating plant is operational and capable of producing 570 megawatts of electricity. The new facility, which replaces the original coal-powered plant, was installed as part of Xcel Energy's voluntary Metro Emissions Reduction Project (MERP) to significantly reduce air emissions while increasing electricity output form the generating site.
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High Bridge combined cycle plant vibration update
As part of our plant startup and commissioning we found that our air intake structures were creating a low frequency vibration that was having some impacts to our neighbors. We have had a couple independent resources that specialize in low frequency vibrations analyze this situation in order to provide us with a remedy. To date, they have been able to isolate the nature of the low frequency vibration along with a fix to help remedy the issue. This remedy has virtually eliminated the issue, however, the low frequency vibration has not been totally eliminated and requires more analysis, which we plan to complete by late summer. From this analysis we intend to perform additional modifications to eliminate this issue.
We have every intention to work this issue until it is fully resolved. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, and we appreciate everyone’s patience.
Jim Zyduck
High Bridge Plant Director
651-223-6701
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An era ends at High Bridge
It was the end of an era June 28 in St. Paul, as Xcel Energy took down a major symbol of the city's coal-powered past to make way for a cleaner energy future.
As part of the demolition of the original High Bridge plant, the 570-foot concrete stack was imploded before hundreds of onlookers who viewed the proceedings from various vantage points along the river.
Demolition of the stack by conventional methods would have involved crews working with jackhammers for approximately 14 months. The implosion brought the stack down in seconds through use of a small amount of strategically placed explosives that disrupted select structural elements. Gravity did most of the work.
High Bridge History
The High Bridge generating plant has been a fixture and visible presence in St. Paul since 1923, and it remains a critical source of electricity for downtown St. Paul and the surrounding community. The High Bridge MERP project involves replacing our existing coal-powered facility with a natural gas-fired combined-cycle unit.
A natural gas-fired, combined-cycle plant produces electricity from two sources of energy instead of one. Natural gas is used as a fuel in a combustion turbine, similar to a jet engine. Exhaust from the combustion turbine also is used to make steam in a heat recovery steam generator. Both sources of energy then drive turbines and electric generators to produce electricity. Integrating combustion turbine and steam turbine technology provides an extremely efficient electricity production process. Combined cycle is about 30 percent more efficient than a traditional steam plant. The new unit will include two combustion turbines, corresponding heat recovery steam generators and a new steam turbine to be installed in a new building on the existing site.
The new unit will operate more cleanly and efficiently than the existing coal-powered units. As a result, air emissions will be significantly reduced: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter will be reduced by more than 90 percent, while mercury will be completely eliminated — please see the fact sheet (181K PDF) for more details. At the same time, electricity output from the High Bridge site will be increased by 270-280 megawatts — enough electricity to supply almost 300,000 typical homes.
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