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LOS Emissions

Leland Olds Station

Leland Olds Station (LOS) near Stanton, ND, is being fitted with a wet limestone scrubber.

LOS Emissions Control Project

The scrubber will remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from the plant’s flue gas. The last piece of structural steel, which supports the ductwork for flue gas as it moves into the scrubber, was set July 14, 2009. As of September 2009, the project is 93 percent complete and the startup phase on some major equipment has begun (video).

Les Larson, project manager, 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 has always been in full compliance with all its federal and state environmental permits. By adding the scrubbers, Leland Olds will be 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.

Commercial operation for the Unit 2 scrubber is scheduled for 2010; Unit 1 is planned for 2011.

The most prominent feature of the project – the 580-foot chimney shell – is complete. The chimney contractor continues work on the interior of the chimney, which includes lighting, platform steel, electrical wiring and emissions monitoring equipment. There will be two flues inside the shell, one for each unit of the plant; the flues will extend 20 feet above the top of the shell and will be installed next spring.

Bob Weir, construction supervisor for the project, says foundation and dirt work will be finished this fall. “The general works contractor is beginning to fully staff up. They’re working on structural steel erection, tank erection, ductwork fabrication and electrical installation,” Weir says.

Project planning began in early 2006. 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.

The Leland Olds Station was the first power plant constructed by Basin Electric. The first unit began operating in 1966; the second in 1975.

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