Equipment installed on Weston Units 1 and 2 boilers included retrofit low NOx burners and new separated over fire air systems (SOFA). These modifications allow optimization of the combustion process to reduce the formation of NOx emissions. The $7.5 million projects were announced in June 2005 and completed earlier this year.
Bruce Bruzina, assistant vice president of energy supply operations for the Weston Power Plant, said “WPSC’s Energy Supply Projects group designed the project to give us about a 50 percent overall reduction in NOx. That’s right about where we are now that the units are fully operational.”
Each NOx emission reduction project took about six weeks of construction time to complete with the work being done during each unit’s normally scheduled maintenance outage.
Bruzina said We want to make sure our power generating units are ready for full load operation as they are a significant part of our generation needed during the hot days of summer when electric demand is at its highest.”
This project is part of a series of emission control projects that are underway at WPS coal-fueled power plants that are designed to meet more stringent state and federal air quality regulatory programs.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) approved the construction of the WPS NOx reduction projects.
Bruzina said “This is part of our company’s overall NOx emission reduction control plan that has been targeted for our older coal-fueled generating units. A total of seven units on our electric generating system will receive similar retrofits. The completion date is mid 2010.”
Weston Unit 3’s NOx reduction equipment installation is scheduled for fall of this year. The Weston Power Plant site is located along the Wisconsin River seven miles south of the city of Wausau in Marathon County in central Wisconsin. It is located on 430 acres of land in the Villages of Kronenwetter and Rothschild. The Weston Generating Station features four base-load operating units: Weston 1 (1954) generates 60 megawatts (MW), Weston 2 (1960) generates 80 MW, Weston 3 (1981) generates 330 MW and Weston 4 (2008) generates 525 MW. All four units burn low-sulfur coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming for fuel.
