CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Appalachian Power has been cleared to receive $51Million of the money President Trump announced Thursday to upgrade coal fired power plants across the nation.
“We will receive $51 Million, what we are planning on using that for is building a new cooling tower for the Mitchell plant,” said Appalachian Power Company spokesperson Debbie Pannell.
The Mitchell plant is located in Marshall County and features two generating units. Tower number 2 has fallen into significant disrepair and needs to be replaced. Pannell said they had already filed a request with the West Virginia Public Service Commission to build a new tower at an estimated cost of $191 Million.
“It’s a necessary build, it’s not something that can be avoided. We had already filed with the estimated cost at $191-Million, so that $51 Million will be a considerable cost savings,” Pannell said.
The company had already looked at four options for the Mitchell cooling tower. One option was construction of an entirely new structure. There was also consideration given to modifying the existing structure and another consideration to reinforce the existing structure. The fourth option was to shutdown and get rid of Unit 2 altogether.
“The best option is constructing a new draft cooling tower,” she said.
The existing tower will be demolished once the new tower is in place. There is no timeline for the project. The PSC hears evidence in the request in September and Pannell said if they approve the project it’s still hard to know how long it will take to build the tower. Pannell suggested however, the funding from Washington will offset the cost to rate payers. Kentucky Power owns half of the Michell station and their customers will share in the cost.
“There will be a savings for our customers, so this will be a win-win for Appalachian Power, but also our customers,” she said.
Along with the $51 Million for the new cooling tower at Mitchell, Appalachian Power will also get $20 Million from the program to construct a new coal loadout facility at the John Amos Power Plant in Winfield.