Edwardsport Power Station is a 120-MW coal-fired electrical power plant in Vigo Township, Knox County, near the town of Edwardsport, Indiana. The plant is located at . An integrated gasification combined cycle power plant (Edwardsport IGCC) is being constructed by Duke Energy at the plant.
The existing Units 1 and 2, rated at 45 and 75 MW respectively, were launched into service in 1949 and 1951.[1] They will be retired as the new 600-MW plant comes online. The new plant is slated to be a base-load station, capable of supplying Indiana with additional capacity in the future. The plant will also be carbon capture-ready.
The gasification process at the new plant involves converting coal into a combustible syngas that will be used in a combustion turbine. The exhaust gases are routed through a large heat recovery steam generator that will be used in conjunction with a steam turbine to further increase the plant's efficiency.
Edwardsport's pollution will be greatly reduced, as particulate matter and mercury will be removed from the syngas. The coal-derived synthetic gas is much cleaner than conventional coal combustion to begin with, and it is easier to clean to greater extent. Coal gasification allows carbon capture to occur before the fuel is combusted — a much easier and economically feasible operation than carbon capture of exhaust gases.
It is expected that Edwardsport IGCC will be online during 2012.
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