Healy Unit 2 Power Plant
This 50-MW power plant increases our baseload of coal-fired generation and will provide long-term stability, since coal prices over time have proven to be significantly less volatile than oil or gas prices.
Current Status: In 2019 the capacity factor was approximately 54%. We expect that to increase as we continue to make improvements as bugs are worked out.
Permitting
- In November 2012, the joint Consent Decree between GVEA, AIDEA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was approved.
- At issue was the agency’s reissue of the air permit – the last major hurdle to restarting the Healy Unit 2 Power Plant.
- Golden Valley chose to pursue the Consent Decree option with the EPA, otherwise, there was no defined end to the air permitting process. The Consent Decree avoids what the co-op believes would have been lengthy and costly litigation.
Consent Decree Stipulations
- GVEA agreed to install the most rigorous emission controls available on Healy Unit 2, with an estimated cost of $30 million. This includes an estimated $5 million for installing additional nitrous oxide controls on Healy Unit 1.
- GVEA agreed to pay $250,000 to help fund the Fairbanks North Star Borough and Denali Borough Woodstove Change-out Program. This will help alleviate the particulate matter problems in the Interior.
- GVEA negotiated for a minimal payment of $115,000 to the EPA. Payments to the EPA are required under the rules of a Consent Decree.
The Consent Decree does not require any mandatory shutdown dates for neither Healy Unit 1 nor Healy Unit 2. GVEA’s board of directors retains full control of decisions regarding shutdown of either plant.
Restarting Healy Unit 2 will:
- Further diversify our fuel mix, which will help stabilize rates
- Put this $300 million State and Federal asset to work
History of the Plant
In 1989, the U.S. DOE’s Clean Coal Technology Program selected Healy as a demonstration plant to use experimental technology to burn waste coal. Healy Unit 2 began burning coal in 1998 and generated power intermittently through 1999 in its testing phase. When the plant failed a 90-day commercial operation test, it was placed in warm lay-up status in early 2000. Talks between AIDEA and GVEA to resolve disputes were unsuccessful. In 2005, AIDEA filed a lawsuit against GVEA. The purchase of the power plant ended the lawsuit.
1993 Final Environmental Impact Statement
(Volume 1 | Volume 2)
Construction Funding
| Department Of Energy | $120 million |
| Alaska Legislature | $25 million |
| AIDEA | $150 million |
| GVEA & Usibelli Coal Mine | $10 million plus in-kind contributions |
Timeline
| 1989 | DOE selected Healy Unit 2 (formerly HCCP) as a Clean Coal Technology Program demonstration plant. |
| 1995-1997 | Healy Unit 2 constructed. |
| 1997-2000 | Healy 2 Demonstration run (failed). |
| 2000 | Plant placed in warm lay-up status. |
| Feb. 2009 | GVEA and AIDA reach sale agreement. |
| 2009 – 2013 | Negotiations were finalized in December 2013 when the purchase agreement was signed on December 4. |
| 2014 – 2015 | After 18 months of retrofitting and refurbishing Healy Unit 2, which included additional pollution controls, updating systems and replacing obsolete controls, on May 28, 2015, the plant was fired on oil for the first time since 2000. On August 4, 2015, Healy Unit 2 was fired on coal. |
| 2016 – 2017 |
On March 3, 2016, when the plant was operating in a start-up condition, transferring from oil to coal, Healy Unit 2 experienced a fire/explosion in the coal feed system. On November 2, 2016, Healy Unit 2 suffered damage to the coal feed system due to spontaneous combustion, commonly known in the industry as a “puff.” At GVEA’s August 28, 2017 board meeting, the directors authorized moving forward with proposed modifications to Healy Unit 2’s coal feed and fuel transport system. Both Unit 1 and Unit 2 have undergone significant environmental upgrades. Unit 1 was successfully commissioned six months early. Unit 2’s environmental controls are installed and will be commissioned once the plant is back online, anticipated in the fall of 2018. |
| 2018 |
Jan – June: Demolition of old fuel transport system and construction/installation of the redesigned system. July 2: First-fire on oil (ignition fuel), followed by system startup and testing. July 28: First-fire on coal, followed by tuning and testing. Aug 16: Achieved full-load operation, followed by additional tuning and testing. Sep 14: Successfuly completed 30-day 85%-availability run to achieve commercial operation/acceptance. Oct 10: Planned outage to install SCR catalyst (the final emission control component). Nov – Dec: Commercial operation. |
| 2019 |
Jan – April: Commercial operation. April: Scheduled outage took place, to perform annual maintenance. May: Resumed commercial operation. June – Aug: Plant ran consistently, though often at reduced load, due to issues with the baghouse and the Flue Gas Desulferization (FGD) system. Sept: Plant offline for two weeks to replace baghouse bags and make repairs to slag drag chain. Oct 9 -15: Repairs made to slag drag chain and wet ash bucket elevator. Oct 21 – 22: Repairs made to bucket elevator. Nov: Original system design led to lime contamination of boiler water while plant was offline. Required a week of flushing the boiler before re-firing. Dec: Coal quality issues (wet coal with low BTU) and continued slag drag issues. |
| 2020 |
Jan 25 – Feb 6: Offline for slag drag repairs. Feb – Mar: Good run with 52 days online. Apr – May: Operating, but continued to battle issues with the slag drag, bucket elevator and FGD systems. June 8-17: Dynamic classifier bearing failure; plant at half-load. July – Aug: Planned outage – Benetech performed major upgrades and/or repairs to wet ash system, which includes slag drag conveyor, bottom ash conveyor and bucket elevator. GVEA repaired transfer conveyor. |