Red Wing Steam Plant

Location: Red Wing, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River

Plant Description: Red Wing is a two-unit generating plant that burns processed municipal solid waste, called refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Power Production Capability: (in-service dates) 20 MW (1949): Unit 1 – 10 MW and Unit 2 – 10 MW

Fuel Sources: Refuse-derived fuel (RDF), a fluffy, burnable fuel produced at resource recovery facilities in Newport and Elk River, Minn. Although Red Wing uses an alternative fuel, it produces electricity the same as conventional plants – a source of heat turns water to steam, which drives a turbine generator.

Plant History: Red Wing proves that a combination of ingenuity and technical advances can offer innovative solutions for today’s waste disposal problem. Built in the 1940s as a coal-fired generating facility, Red Wing’s two units were converted in 1986 to burn RDF. The processed municipal solid waste provides a low-cost fuel alternative to generate electricity and reduces the amount of material going to landfills.

Interesting Features: The RDF burned at Red Wing is produced at resource recovery facilities in Elk River and Newport, Minn. These facilities collect and process approximately 790,000 tons of municipal solid waste each year from several Minnesota counties. Haulers dump solid waste on the tipping floor at the facilities. Front-end loader operators then inspect trash and push it on the floor to a feed conveyor. The RDF processing facility removes recyclable materials and noncombustible items from the waste, then chops and shreds it into a uniformly sized fluffy product for delivery to Red Wing, or its sister RDF combustion plant – Wilmarth in Mankato, Minn. RDF is hauled by truck to a receiving facility at the Red Wing plant, where it is conveyed to the two boilers inside the plant. The Red Wing plant is located amidst the scenic Mississippi River bluffs of southeastern Minnesota, just below Barn Bluff, a popular hiking area. The plant also is the site of the City of Red Wing’s barge unloading activities.

Environmental Highlights: The plant employs a combination duct scrubber with a baghouse to effectively cut emissions from burning refuse-derived fuel. The scrubber treats flue gas with a water spray and dry lime, while the baghouse traps particulate by forcing gas streams through large filter bags.

Contact Information:

• Plant Information and Tour Requests — 1-800-895-4999
• Media Inquiries — 612-215-5300