BUSINESS

Last ever load of coal arrives at Downtown steam plant

Chris Sikich
chris.sikich@indystar.com

The last trainload of coal was delivered Monday to the Perry K Steam Plant, marking the end of a 121-year era Downtown.

The steam plant at 350 S. West St. has burned coal since 1893. But increasingly stringent environmental regulations spurred operator Citizens Energy Group to switch to cleaner-burning natural gas.

The final 100-ton delivery of coal will be burned by March 20, Citizens spokeswoman Sarah Holsapple said. The plant — whose silos reach high into the skyline in an industrial area adjacent to Lucas Oil Stadium and Victory Field — provides steam for heat and hot water to about 200 customers Downtown, including high rises, hospitals and industries.

Holsapple said clean-air regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency that begin this year would have forced the utility to spend $24 million to overhaul the plant. The plant last underwent a $12 million retrofit in 2006 to comply with increased standards, she said. Three plant boilers already burn natural gas.

Power plants nationwide are turning toward natural gas as a cleaner form of energy.

Citizens estimates that greenhouse gas emissions will decline 50 percent at the plant when the conversion is complete.

"We think that natural gas is cleaner and better for the environment," Holsapple said, "and it's also cheaper."

Although environmental advocates acknowledge the benefits of natural gas over coal, they would prefer that utilities invest in more renewable sources of energy such as solar power.

"The natural gas conversion will yield positive benefits for our air quality and for reducing the risks posed by coal ash sludge lagoons, which are a part of Perry K's coal legacy," said Jesse Kharbanda, the executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council.

Still, he said, natural-gas extraction poses environmental risks, and he hopes Citizens explores solar-thermal power options in the future.

The fuel switch will be positive for the community, said Niki Girls, executive director at the Concord Neighborhood Center, several blocks to the south. She believes the change will make a big difference in air quality. An odor sometimes hovers in the area, she said, either from the plant or nearby industries.

"Obviously, using the natural gas will be much better for us," she said. "Common sense tells me this will be a vast improvement."

Indiana has a long history as a coal-powered state. Now, 85 percent of Indiana's power is generated from coal, 8.5 percent from nuclear energy, 4.4 percent from gas and 2 percent from renewable resources such as wind and solar power.

At the Perry K plant, the current rotary car dumper, installed in 1946, has turned over and emptied nearly 350,000 coal cars to the coal yard, which is across the street from the steam plant. At its height, the plant used 1 million tons of coal annually.

Since the conversion to natural gas began in 1998, the plant has used a supply of coal that dwindled to 150,000 tons last year.

When the conversion is complete, Citizens Energy Group plans to clean the plant's ash silos and exterior walls, paint the stacks and sell the locomotive and rail cars.

Citizens has moved 28 employees to other positions within the company as a result of the change in fuel supply, Holsapple said, and has given six more the chance to reapply for new positions.

Call Star reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him @ChrisSikich.