Lake Road (MO) power station

From Global Energy Monitor

Lake Road (MO) power station is an operating power station of at least 175-megawatts (MW) in Saint Joseph, Missouri, United States with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as Lake Road Generating Station (MO).

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Lake Road (MO) power station Saint Joseph, Missouri, United States 39.724872, -94.878188 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 4: 39.724872, -94.878188
  • Unit 4, Unit 5: 39.7246, -94.8773

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology CHP Start year Retired year
Unit 4 retired coal - bituminous 90 subcritical 1966 2016
Unit 4 operating[1] gas[1][2] 90[1] steam turbine[1] no[3] 2018[3][2][4][5] 2024 (planned)
Unit 5 operating[1] gas, gaseous propane[1] 85[1] gas turbine[1] no[3] 1974[3]

CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner Parent
Unit 4 Evergy Missouri West Inc [100.0%]
Unit 4 Evergy Missouri West[1] Evergy, Inc. [100.0%]
Unit 5 Evergy Missouri West[1] Evergy, Inc. [100.0%]

Unit Conversions

Unit 4 was converted from coal-burning to run on natural gas or oil in 2016.[6][7]

According to the EIA database data Unit 6 is now designated as a petroleum liquids (EIA 860m) fired unit although it still used coal in 2020 (EIA 923, Page 3 boiler fuel data).[8][9]

Emissions Data

  • CO2 Emissions: 715,537 tons (2005)
  • SO2 Emissions: 2,613 tons (2005)
  • SO2 Emissions per MWh: 8.55 lb/MWh
  • NOx Emissions: 2,439 tons (2005)
  • Mercury Emissions:

Ownership

The plant was originally owned by Aquila. In 2007 Aquila's electric assets in northwest Missouri, including Lake Road, were acquired by historic rival Kansas City Power & Light (via its new parent Great Plains Energy) for US$1.7 billion.[10]

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Lake Road (MO) power station

In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[11] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[12]

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Lake Road (MO) power station

Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 1 $8,600,000
Heart attacks 2 $200,000
Asthma attacks 20 $1,000
Hospital admissions 1 $20,000
Chronic bronchitis 1 $330,000
Asthma ER visits 1 <$1,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Articles and Resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 "U.S. Energy Information Administration, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (May 2023)". Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  2. 2.0 2.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220709062541/https://www.transmissionhub.com/articles/2016/02/unit-4-6-at-lake-road-plant-in-missouri-to-burn-last-coal-in-april.html. Archived from the original on 09 July 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "U.S. Energy Information Administration, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (November 2019)". Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  4. "U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860 detailed data with previous form data (EIA-860A/860B), 2017". Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  5. "U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860 detailed data with previous form data (EIA-860A/860B), 2018". Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  6. Steve Everly, " Kansas City Power & Light will stop using coal at some of its generating units," The Kansas City Star, 01/20/2015
  7. Ray Scherer, "KCP&L finishes Lake Road changes," St. Joseph News-Press, July 15, 2016
  8. "EIA 923 July 2020" EIA 923 July 2020.
  9. "EIA 860m July 2020" EIA.gov, accessed October 2020
  10. Black Hills offers Kan. regulators new deal on Aquila gas buy Kansas City, February 13, 2008
  11. "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
  12. "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datases, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.