Off The Editor’s Desk – 5-5-2019
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To shut down coal power plant!
We have a story that is being published in this week’s edition that Xcel Energy will shut down its coal fired power plant along the St. Croix River at Oak Park Heights, Minnesota by 2028.
The Allen S. King generating plant (named for a former president and chairman of the board of Northern States Power) went into service in 1968 and produces some 511 megawatts of electricity while burning 300 tons of coal an hour in its cyclone boiler. The plant also provides hot water to the Andersen Windows facility nearby.
I remember that an old railroad man once told me about the pusher steam engine on the Chicago and Northwestern line that would burn a ton of coal to make it up the grade from Knapp to Wilson.
Xcel will use wind turbines to replace the coal-fired plant, so the story indicates.
In a related news, a release from the Center for Rural Affairs provided the following information about renewable energy.
“The number of Americans receiving their electricity from renewable wind energy grew rapidly in 2018, with enough installed capacity to power more than 30 million homes, that is according to the 2018 American Wind Energy Association Annual Market Report.
“With additional projects in development, total wind capacity in the U.S. is projected to grow to 131,000 megawatts, or enough to power about 42 million homes. By the end of last year, six states produced 20 percent of their electricity from wind, while others, like Iowa and Kansas, have exceeded 30 percent.”
On Wednesday, May 22 we left for Little Rock, AR and it was raining and the wind was blowing as we traveled on I-35 into southern Minnesota and Iowa where there are many wind turbines and they were all capturing the wind to make electricity. But, returning on Sunday, May 26, the wind had stopped and those wind turbines were standing still. I wondered where the power was coming from to replace the lost wind power.
I have not heard anything about the proposed wind farm in Forest Township for a very long time and I can’t report about if anything is in the works. I know that many township residents are very opposed to that project and the town has spent a lot of money fighting it in an attempt to stop the wind farm from proceeding.
I reached out to Leeward Energies, LLC in Texas (owners of the Forest wind farm project) for an update, but by press time they have not got back to me with any info. Maybe we will have some information about the Forest Project at a later date.
According to the story about the King plant, Xcel will continue to use the Monticello Nuclear power plant, for at least another twenty years. There was no mention about the Nuclear Power plant at Red Wing.
I can remember that Hudson held car races on the ice of the St. Croix River until the King Plant went into operation and that made the ice unsafe to race cars.
“If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character.” Actor Paul Newman, 1925 – 2008.
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton