By Evelyn Pyburn
Although NorthWestern Energy’s Yellowstone County power plant is still undergoing final performance tests, it is already fully operational and serving customers. A group of media representatives were given a tour of the plant last week, accompanied by several company representatives, including Josh Follman, the plant’s project manager and NorthWestern Energy (NWE) project development director.
The new $310 million power plant consists of 18 internal combustion piston engines capable of generating a total of 175 megawatts, filling the gap in electricity needs for NWE customers in Montana. The plant is located next to the CHS refinery in Laurel at the end of South Strauch Road, just off South Frontage Road.
Follman described the plant as “very good, very clean.” It is “one of the cleanest plants based on its emissions profile.” Follman said the company does not have to monitor emissions because its emissions are “well below the limits set for initiating controls.” The plant is equipped with emissions monitors that take continuous measurements and are programmed to “turn themselves off” when emissions reach unacceptable levels. Because of its low emissions, NWE only has to submit annual reports to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
NWE pushed for the plant to be completed as soon as possible to avoid the frequent need to buy energy on the market when there is not enough energy needed to meet peak demand. “If we don’t have enough energy of our own, we have to go to the market and buy energy at a very high price,” Follman said, adding: “The worst thing we can do is buy energy.”
In recent years, NWE has had to spend about $5 million each year to purchase energy on the market to meet peak demand.
In a recent interview, NWE President and CEO Brian Bird said that production from the Yellowstone County plant will cut NWE’s additional power needs in half, but that they will not have enough power until NWE acquires Colstrip Units 3 and 4 early next year.
A third of the electricity – about 450 megawatts – that NorthWestern Energy supplies to the state is consumed in the Billings region.
The Yellowstone County Generating Station also serves as a backup when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining to power alternative generation facilities, which could again force NWE to buy on the market. “On very cold winter days in Montana, we typically have no wind and no sun at night,” Follman said.
The new facility will allow for rapid response to sudden changes in energy availability. The supply is constantly monitored, and should the wind suddenly stop blowing at a wind turbine or another sudden change occurs, one or more generators can start producing within three minutes and feed energy into the grid within eight minutes.
“They will chase the wind faster than a gas turbine,” Follman said.
The nice thing about the new system is that it does not have to be in operation all the time, but that you can switch on as many or as few generators as necessary, depending on the situation.
Completion of the power plant will also allow NWE to conduct further research, Follman said. “We now have security. That is an important part of the operation.”
The power plant’s technology is not new. Follman says it’s been around “forever,” although “the technology has gotten better over time.” In fact, it’s long been used by the U.S. Navy, which is required to run power plants on its ships. That’s the background Follman comes from. Originally from Anaconda, Follman said he didn’t realize the potential prospects that awaited him when he learned about power generation in the Navy. Since then, he’s pursued a career building power plants for companies across the country; most recently in Heron, South Dakota.
Follman explained that the technology at the Yellowstone County plant is essentially similar to that of a car engine. “…the main difference between a typical car engine and this one is the size.”
The plant has a very simple basic concept. It is so simple that it is often referred to as a “dumb plant” – “gas in, power out,” Follman said.
The fuel used is of course different from that used in a vehicle. Instead of gasoline, they use natural gas, which is considered one of the cleanest forms of carbon fuel. Otherwise, the generators are just like a car engine, except they are much larger. Usually, when you think of a car engine, you think of a 6V or 8V engine, but these engines are 20V. Otherwise, from the catalytic converters to the radiators, they work just like a car engine.
Follman explained how the monstrous generators were transported and placed inside the 400-foot-long building. Tracks were laid inside the building and a crane lifted a generator and placed it on the tracks. They used apple-scented Dawn dish soap as a lubricant to slide the generator into its final place.
The installation of the generators required 149.4 kilometers of cable.
They are designed to last for over 30 years, some have been in operation for 50 years.
Everything that happens at the Yellowstone plant is constantly monitored from the control room, which is equipped with video monitors and computer data, providing a constant flow of information to two people on duty at all times. The entire plant is operated by a small staff – two people in the control room plus a maintenance crew. The plant has a total of 20 employees, 90 percent of whom are from the local area.
The O&M supervisor for the Yellowstone Power Plant is Joe Janecek of Columbus.
For the generators to work optimally, they must operate at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius. This means that the building they are in is always quite warm. The roof of the building is designed to allow excess heat to escape.
The natural gas required by the plant is piped from Colorado under the Yellowstone River. The natural gas is delivered at 125 psi (square inches) to each of the 18 reciprocating internal combustion engines built by Caterpillar in Germany.
The only water the facility uses comes from wells and there is “zero water runoff,” Follman said. Water is used only for an eyewash station, toilets and a sink in the control room.
Particular attention has been paid to keeping noise levels as low as possible and the lighting is ‘dark sky friendly’, with downward-facing lights designed to have minimal impact on the surrounding environment.
Noise levels at the power plant can be very high when the generators are running. Follman compared it to a Van Halen concert. Given the noise levels, many sound-dampening measures were taken during the construction of the power plant, including sound walls in the narrowest upper part of the nine distinctive silos that rise above the power plant.
Now Follman faces the challenge of knowing from the outside whether a generator is running and which one it is. He will buy the beer, he says. Follman said the decibel level of the plant is about 65, which is about the same as the decibel level in a restaurant.
If the facility’s power fails for any reason, there is a backup battery that lasts eight hours. Follman couldn’t seem to imagine a situation where the eight hours of backup time wouldn’t be enough, but if it’s needed for any reason, they also have a generator.
As opponents of the plant construction have challenged the project due to zoning issues, questions have been raised about why NorthWestern Energy chose this site. Jo Dee Black, NWE public relations specialist, explained that the site meets most of the requirements for the plant to operate, including the ability to supply the natural gas needed and proximity to an NWE substation.
Black said the permitted land use of the site, which is zoned partly for heavy industry and partly for agriculture, is appropriate for building a power plant. She noted that the surrounding land uses are appropriate in that they include the Laurel wastewater treatment plant and the CHS refinery, from which NWE purchased the property.
Opponents of NWE’s plans for the power plant in Yellowstone County have filed suit challenging the county’s authority to zone that area. The suit was filed by the Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC), the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), and the Thiel Road Coalition to stop construction of the power plant.
Earlier this year, District Judge Jessica Fehr ruled that the county has full zoning authority that it has always exercised for unincorporated areas and areas outside municipal boundaries. The judge said that under state law, cities can exercise “extraterritorial jurisdiction” over land near a city boundary, but that authority ends once a county has enacted zoning or subdivision regulations, which Yellowstone County has done.
The plaintiffs in this case are opponents of the construction of the plant and claim that it causes air pollution and poses an environmental threat to the Yellowstone River.
Part of the confusion and controversy revolves around the fact that the original documents approved by county boards at the time of adoption in 1979 are no longer traceable. A few weeks ago, Yellowstone County County Commissioners went through the formal process of re-adopting the original zoning regulations based on replicas of data and maps, as well as many years of recorded data accepted by city and county planners.
Although the commission’s action had no impact on existing zoning, numerous representatives of residents of the newly completed plant attended the commission meeting and expressed doubts about the validity of the county’s claim that the original documents were lost. They raised concerns about pollution, endangerment of the Yellowstone River, and impacts on the neighborhood, including very loud noises during plant operations.
Earlier this year, the City of Laurel finalized a growth policy that was approved by the county commissioners. A growth policy is for planning purposes and is not a regulatory document.
All applications for zoning changes must be submitted by the property owner.
Although NWE obtained all government permits, including those from EPA and DEQ, to build the now-completed $310 million power plant, NPRC and MEIC continue to pursue legal action to force its dismantling.
