Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has approved construction permits for air pollution control equipment at NRG's Indian River coal-fired power plant near Millsboro.
The approved plan requires that the power plant’s oldest units, unit 1 and unit 2, be shut down by May 1, 2011 and May 1, 2010, respectively, and calls for construction of back-end pollution control equipment on Unit 3 and Unit 4 by December 31, 2011 as allowed under the permits.
Pollution control equipment to be constructed includes an ammonia storage system, lime silos and baghouses, byproduct storage silo with a baghouse, selective catalytic reduction systems, and circulating dry scrubber systems with baghouse.
These investments were selected by NRG to meet emission reductions necessary to comply with the department’s multi-pollutant regulation governing control of air pollution from generating units. Additionally and in concert with this permitting action, NRG has agreed to install and operate two air monitoring stations to measure ambient levels of fine particles upwind and downwind of the facility.
The shutdown of units 1 and 2 will result in prevention of 4,586 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 23,925 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) from being emitted into the air annually. Construction of the pollution control equipment on units 3 and 4 will further decrease annual emissions of NOx by more than 75%, SO2 by nearly 85%, mercury by nearly 90% to no more than 25 pounds per year, acid gas emissions by more than 80%, particulate matter by more than 50%, and ammonia by more than 30%, DNREC said.
The combined impact of these changes will be an overall reduction in NOx and SO2 emissions at the facility of nearly 90% by the project’s completion.
Indian River Power, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, submitted an application for permits to construct the pollution control equipment at the Indian River generating station near Millsboro on April 16, 2009 to comply with a negotiated settlement with the Air Quality Management Section under former secretary John Hughes, which was approved by Superior Court September 24, 2007.