Springfield electric co-op plans $1 bil plant

Springfield-based Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. plans to build a new coal-powered generating plant in rural Carroll County to meet the growing needs of its six member-owners.

Spokesperson Nancy Southworth said the northwest Missouri location was chosen for its combination of access – to railways, to water for cooling equipment and to the electric transmission grid to send new power to the member companies. The company has selected an alternate site in Holt County, also in northwest Missouri.

Associated Electric provides electric power wholesale to Central Electric Power Cooperative, KAMO Power, M&A Electric Power Cooperative, Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative, NW Electric Power Cooperative Inc. and Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative. Those companies supply energy to 51 distribution cooperatives, which in turn provide electricity to more than 800,000 customers, a majority of whom are residential, in rural Missouri, southeast Iowa and northeast Oklahoma.

Southworth said the new plant is intended to provide energy for the growing demand of its member companies. She added that if extra energy is available in the first years the plant is operational, that energy could be sold to neighboring companies.

Though plans have not been finalized for the plant, she said the capacity should be between 600 and 700 megawatts, which would make it one of the largest plants in Associated Electric’s system.

Associated Electric’s expected investment is about $1 billion. That compares to the new coal-burning power plant proposed by CU, which would have produced about 275 megawatts of power at a cost of $578 million, but was rejected by city voters in the Aug. 3 election.

Despite building a third coal-fired power plant, AECI is trying several methods to keep the costs of energy production down.

“We have the availability of hydropower which we purchase from the Southwestern Power Administration, we have five (natural) gas-based plants – one of those five can also use oil – and then we have an additional oil plant,” Southworth said.

The variety of fuel sources, she said, helps the company deal with fluctuations in individual fuel prices.

Construction on the new power plant should begin in 2007, with a 2011 estimated completion date. About 900 construction workers are expected on site during peak periods, and the plant will employ about 130 full-time workers when operational.