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coal handling Changing the Coal Delivery System at Hayden Station An older plant is retrofitted with a modern coal handling system BY JAMES S. NEWCOMER AND JOHN E. PIERCE (CDOT) and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Planning & Permitting Excel Energy's Hayden Station recently completed an upgrade that now allows the power plant to receive coal by rail. For more than 40 years Hayden Generating Station, a 446-megawatt coal-fired, base-load electric generating plant located in northwest Colorado, received its fuel via truck from the local Seneca mine. In 2001, planning began for the day when the mine could no longer supply the station's needed fuel due to the depletion of local coal reserves. Ten years later, the project was complete, assuring Hayden Station of ongoing viability for decades to come. Hayden Station is located at 6,500 ft above sea level near Hayden, Colo., 30 miles west of Steamboat Springs. The plant, co-owned by three utilities—Xcel Energy (the operating partner), Salt River Project and PacifiCorp—houses two generating units. Unit No 1 is rated at 184 megawatts (mw) and began operating in 1965; the 262mw Unit No. 2 began operating in 1976. Together, the two generating units consume up to 1.8 million tons annually of bituminous coal. From the time of initial operations, this coal was supplied from the local mine to the plant via trucks on a dedicated 5-mile long haul road making up to 100 trips per day. For the future, Hayden Station desired more flexibility in coal sources and the abil- 24 www.coalage.com ity to receive coal from either truck or rail. Thus, Hayden Station initiated a new project to provide reliable, long-term coal delivery methods to secure its necessary fuel supply. A project of this magnitude—involving challenges ranging from environmental, agricultural, and transportation effects, to social, cultural, and historical sensitivities, as well as fundamental matters of public health and safety—was bound to generate significant interest among a wide array of constituencies. Recognizing this, the project team made a concerted effort to share information with, and gather input from local landowners and residents; environmental and agricultural interests; federal, state and local officials; the general public; various other entities involved in energy exploration, generation and delivery; and others with a stake in the implementation and outcome of this project. Public meetings and public workshops were held to collect community input. Meeting and consultation with jurisdictional agencies included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Colorado Department of Transportation The planning and permitting stage was the most time consuming part of the project. From initial studies, which began in 2001, to receipt of the necessary construction permits, took six years. Early in the planning process certain project goals were formulated. The three overriding project goals were to: • provide a long-term flexible coal delivery method; • improve the coal handling operations at the plant; and • remain a good corporate neighbor to the local community. Providing an alternative to truck delivery of coal into the plant was a common goal of the community, local governments and the plant owners. Due to increased traffic on the local roads over the years, the community was concerned with traffic safety and therefore sought to minimize trucks from the public roadways. The local government also sought to minimize trucks from the roads as a means of reducing roadway maintenance costs. Hayden Station plant owners sought to reduce dependence on trucking as a sole delivery method. Therefore, an early decision in the planning process was to develop rail service into Hayden Station. This was a primary goal for which nearly all interested parties were in complete agreement. In planning for rail deliveries, three subgoals that all parties also agreed to, quickly coalesced. There was a desire to plan for full unit train delivery to minimize the number of trains traversing the community and to provide economical fuel costs. Secondly, for safety concerns, any rail crossings of public roads would be constructed as separated grade crossings. And finally, the plant needed to remain opera- September 2013