Pulliam Power Plant

From Global Energy Monitor

Pulliam Power Plant is an operating power station of at least 91-megawatts (MW) in Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as JP Pulliam power station.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Pulliam Power Plant Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States 44.539869, -88.008225 (exact)

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

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8: 44.539869, -88.008225
  • Unit 31: 44.54, -88.0086

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology CHP Start year Retired year
Unit 3 retired coal - subbituminous 30 subcritical 1943 2007
Unit 31 operating[1] gas[1] 91[1] gas turbine[1] no[2] 2003[2]
Unit 4 retired coal - subbituminous 30 subcritical 1947 2007
Unit 5 retired coal - subbituminous 50 subcritical 1949 2015
Unit 6 retired coal - subbituminous 69 subcritical 1951 2015
Unit 7 retired coal - subbituminous 82 subcritical 1958 2018
Unit 8 retired coal - subbituminous 150 subcritical 1964 2018

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 3 Wisconsin Public Service Corp [100.0%]
Unit 31 Wisconsin Public Service Corporation[3] WEC Energy Group Inc. [100.0%]
Unit 4 Wisconsin Public Service Corp [100.0%]
Unit 5 Wisconsin Public Service Corp [100.0%]
Unit 6 Wisconsin Public Service Corp [100.0%]
Unit 7 Wisconsin Public Service Corp [100.0%]
Unit 8 Wisconsin Public Service Corp [100.0%]

Background

The plant was first built in 1927. At its peak, the power plant was home to eight coal-fueled electric generating units. There is also a 91 MW natural gas fueled combustion turbine (Unit 31) at Pulliam that runs during times of peak energy demand and began operating in 2003.[4]

Unit Retirements

Units 1-2 were retired in 1980, units 3-4 in 2007, and units 5-6 in 2015.[5] Units 3-6 were retired as a result of EPA Clean Air Act enforcement.[6] Units 7-8, the power station's final units, were retired in 2018. Plant owner WEC Energy Group cited lower prices for energy alternatives, including wind power, as the basis for the decision.[7]

Ownership

The plant was owned by Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) of WPS Resources Corporation (WPSR). On February 21, 2007, WSPR merged with Peoples Energy to become Integrys Energy Group, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. On June 23, 2014, Integrys announced that it was being acquired by Wisconsin Energy (of WEC Energy Group) for US$9.1 billion.[8]

Sierra Club Lawsuit

On October 26, 2006 the Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin announced a settlement with Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPS) to resolve Clean Air Act violations at its Pulliam Power Plant in Green Bay. The groups filed the suit after discovering that air pollution monitoring reports submitted by WPS to the Department of Natural Resources showed that Pulliam had exceeded legal pollution limits. The terms of the settlement include:

  • Upgrade air pollution controls on all coal-fired units
  • Invest $500,000 in an energy efficiency project in the Green Bay area
  • Limit use or shut down the two oldest – and dirtiest – coal-fired electric generating units[9]

Emissions Data

  • 2006 CO2 Emissions: 2,988,738 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions: 10,869 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
  • 2006 NOx Emissions: 8,163 tons
  • 2005 Mercury Emissions: 150 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Pulliam Power Plant

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.[10] 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.[11]

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Pulliam Power Plant

Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 16 $120,000,000
Heart attacks 26 $2,800,000
Asthma attacks 270 $14,000
Hospital admissions 12 $270,000
Chronic bronchitis 10 $4,400,000
Asthma ER visits 16 $6,000

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 "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 "U.S. Energy Information Administration, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (November 2019)". Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  3. "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.
  4. "Pulliam Power Plant". Wisconsin Public Service Corp. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  5. Form EIA-860 Data - Schedule 3, Generator Data, US EIA, 2014
  6. "Wisconsin Public Service Corporation Settlement". EPA. January 4, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  7. "Green Bay’s Pulliam Plant Will 'Retire' By End Of 2018," WPR, December 1, 2017
  8. "Utility firms Wisconsin Energy and Integrys plan merger". Wisconsin Star. Retrieved 23 June 2014. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. Lawsuit Settlement Announced by Clean Wisconsin and Sierra Club Signals Clean Air Victory, Clean Wisconsin, October 25, 2006
  10. "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
  11. "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.