E-Mail Page  Print  Feedback

LOS Emissions Control

Construction has begun at the Leland Olds Station near Stanton, ND, to install wet limestone scrubbers that will remove emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2).

The preliminary work of moving utilities and buildings has been completed, and now construction has started on the scrubber foundations. Project planning began in early 2006.

Mark Nygard, construction supervisor, said that work on the foundations will continue into fall 2008. “We will have the chimney foundation completed this year, and work on the 600-foot concrete chimney shell will begin next spring,” he said.

Leland Olds Station

Also in 2007, the fuel oil tanks will be relocated, with temporary storage tanks being used in the meantime. The pipe rack will also be moved. This makes room for limestone storage and preparation.

LOS emissions control project

Myron Steckler, Basin Electric’s manager for the Leland Olds emissions control project, said the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Haze Rule, which provides for improvements in visibility at our national parks and wilderness areas, requires greater emission control through the installation of best available retrofit technology (BART) by the end of 2013.

“The Leland Olds Station is in full compliance with all its federal and state environmental permits,” Steckler said, “but by adding the scrubbers, it will place Leland Olds in a better position to operate for an additional 20 to 30 years providing jobs and economic benefits to the area long into the future.”

The Basin Electric board of directors approved the use of wet limestone scrubber technology for units 1 and 2 of the Leland Olds Station in January 2007. Limestone for the scrubbers is supplied by Montana Limestone Company’s facilities near Warren, MT. Montana Limestone is a subsidiary of Dakota Coal Company, which is a subsidiary of Basin Electric.

Commercial operation for Unit 2 is scheduled for 2009; Unit 1 is planned for 2010.
 
The Leland Olds Station was the first power plant constructed by Basin Electric. The first unit began operating in 1966; the second in 1975.

A bird's eye view of the Sept. 27, 2007, continuous concrete pour. This foundation will support a 600-foot-tall chimney. Concrete for the chimney shell will be poured in the spring of 2008.	There were 25 concrete trucks running and on stand-by for the 3,300-cubic-yard-pour. Six trucks could dump at once, and a new truck was dumping every two minutes.

Project facts

Construction begins:	Summer 2007
Projected completion:	Unit 2 - 2009 Unit 1 - 2010
Project manager:	Myron Steckler
Construction supervisor:	Mark Nygard
Technology selection:	Wet limestone scrubber
Projected capital cost:	$410 million
Estimated peak construction workforce:	300 to 400

Top of page

E-Mail Page  Print  Feedback

• LOS Emissions Control
• Glossary