New contract for environmentally-friendly technology means cleaner emissions, savings for ratepayers, and new jobs for residents!
“Colorado Springs Utilities signed a $73.5 million contract Tuesday with a local company to install environmentally-friendly technology in the Martin Drake Power Plant’s smoke stacks, intended to lower the plant’s sulfur dioxide emissions to almost zero.
In anticipation of new emissions regulations handed down by the federal and state governments, Utilities began working with Colorado Springs-based Neumann Systems Group Inc. in 2008 to develop new processes for cleaning the output from the tons of coal it burns every day.
Earlier this year, Neumann won a $7.2 million contract from the federal Department of Energy to further develop its emissions-scrubbing technology, and now the company can boast a system that removes 97 percent of the sulfur dioxide in Drake’s emissions, said Neumann Vice President of Operations Suzanne Kladder.
The total cost of the installation at Drake will be roughly $113 million, said Utilities Chief Energy Services Officer Bruce McCormick, because they’ll also have to hire a contractor to do the labor. Neumann will design and manufacture the mechanism, and also purchase equipment and oversee the project. A contractor has not yet been hired for the job.
The contract also includes financial incentives for Neumann — if the project is completed on time and if the system exceeds expectations, the company may get up to a 5 percent bonus, or $3.6 million.
The system, called Neustream, will also save ratepayers money, said McCormick, by helping drive down operating costs for Utilities in the long run. Competing systems are more expensive to operate and maintain, and also use more expensive chemicals, said McCormick. Though $113 million may sound like a steep price, he said, other systems run up to $150 million.
“It’s going to have lower operating and maintenance costs, and that’s what carries on forever through the life of the plant. So there are savings in multiple ways in this technology,” said McCormick.
Neustream works by rerouting emissions gas through a liquid composite that absorbs sulfur dioxide, or SO2. The liquid is pumped out of the stack, processed, and then sent back into circulation, to absorb more SO2. Work on the project will start this year and be completed by 2014.
McCormick said Utilities will hire at least 15 full-time employees to run the Neustream system after it’s completed.
Regulations for the Ray Nixon Power Plant have also been written by the state, but those haven’t yet been addressed. Utilities spokeswoman Natalie Eckhart said in an email that Neumann might also be hired to install Neustream at Nixon, but nothing has been finalized.”
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/plant-126184-power-contract.html#ixzz1a129b1DV
Photo from: http://www.csu.org/residential/about/newsroom/photos/item2430.jpg
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